


Standing Alone (gets you killed)

by Count24



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Gen, Pranks are fun, Ravenclaw Harry Potter, but not important
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-13
Updated: 2019-12-23
Packaged: 2020-12-14 19:43:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 74
Words: 305,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21021236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Count24/pseuds/Count24
Summary: Imagine a Harry Potter who tried to run away from the Dursley's. Only to discover that somehow, every attempt, failed. In response to his repeated attempts to rid himself of the presence of his hated relatives, Harry becomes a bit independent, and study happy, hoping to find a way to free himself. Once at Hogwarts he finds it. And a whole lot more.





	1. Chapter 1

Harry looked around the cramped little alley that the enormous man beside him had called diagon. It was amazing despite the crowding, there was simply so much to see and so many things he wanted to get an even closer look at. However without knowing more about how these shops protected their wares he couldn’t just nick anything and he had no money. So real exploration would have to wait.

  
“Come on Harry keep up, just ahead here.” The giant of a man who called himself Hagrid called and Harry noticed that he had fallen behind as he gazed around. Jogging a bit he caught up quickly.

  
“So where are we headed sir?”

  
“No need to call me sir Harry,” the man said with a smile, “just Hagrid will do. And we’re going to Gringotts. Wizards bank to get yer shopping money.”

  
“But sir, I don’t have any money. You heard Uncle Vernon, he won’t pay.”

  
Shaking his head a bit Hagrid laughed softly. “Harry do you really think yer parents left ya nothin’? You’ll see come on then.”  
And he led the way up the stairs of a large marble building with a queer warning to thieves on the side of it. At the door stood a short green skinned thing holding a short halberd and grinning wickedly at the two of them.

  
“Yep, that’s a goblin.” Hagrid stated as they strode across the main room of the bank.

  
Harry was again staring around in wonder. Dozens of the short wicked looking creatures were hurrying about at various tasks. Some were standing about holding the same short halberds as the one outside, others had short swords at their hips. Nearly all had curved daggers hanging from their belts. Most were seated at desks sorting stacks of what looked like gold coins, piles of gemstones, and various bits of paperwork, though the paper looked wrong somehow.

  
Hagrid led him up to one of the goblins at a desk. “Hallo, Harry Potter would like to visit his vault.”

  
The goblin leaned forward and smiled a toothy grin at Harry, “and does Harry Potter have his key?”

  
“Oh, should have it here somewhere.” Hagrid pulled a dozen things out of his coat pockets including several live mice before finally laying a small gold key on the desk. “There you are.”

  
The goblin picked up the key and peered closely at it. “Yes that seems in order.” It looked across the room to a line of goblins standing next to a large iron door. “Griphook” it yelled and another goblin jogged over. “Take mister Potter to his vault.”

  
Before the goblin could respond Hagrid spoke up again, “Ah yes I also have some Hogwarts business. It’s about you know what in vault you know which.” With these cryptic words he handed over a letter which the goblin read quickly and then waved his hand. “Griphook will take you.” And then he turned to the next customer in line and they turned to follow the new goblin, Griphook.

  
A speedy and stomach wrenching cart ride later and Harry was staring in open mouthed wonder at a pile of gold coins almost as tall as himself. “And this is all mine?”

  
“Of course Harry.” Hagrid grinned at him and slapped one meaty hand on his shoulder, sending him tumbling into the pile.  
After a few quick questions about how much was actually there and how much he could take in a single trip, Harry gathered up a bunch of coins and they were off again.

  
Hagrid gathered a small package from a second vault before they returned to the alley.

  
“Ah if you don’t mind Harry I’m gonna head over to the leaky for a pint. I hate them Gringotts carts. I’ll meet back up with you in a bit to get yer wand.”

  
“Sure thing sir, I’ll be careful.” Inside Harry was doing a little happy dance. This would give him a chance to explore by himself and learn a few things without having to hide his goals. He wasn’t sure yet what to make of Hagrid. On the one hand he did tell him some things he’d been wondering about for years, things about his parents and the odd things that sometimes happened around him. Even better he got him away from the Dursley's. Really away for the first time ever.

  
As he strolled down the alley glancing at shops debating what to look at first, he thought back on his various attempts to escape the Dursley's.

  
Dozens, if not hundreds of times he had run away from those worthless excuses for human beings. And every time someone had dragged him back. Bobby’s on patrol had led him back protesting, looked around the house promised to help and then never returned. Teachers at school had seen the bruises promised to get him away and then done nothing. Even the occasional school nurse had said clearly that they would send information on his mistreatment to the authorities, and still nothing ever happened. Adults could clearly not be trusted.

  
And now here was Hagrid who had explained that he had helped put him in that hell hole. Sure he’d gotten Harry away from them, but then if he’d helped place him there in the first place, he must know how. And Hagrid had mentioned a professor Dumbledore who was also involved. This would take some thinking.

  
As he came to the end of his pondering he reached a shop advertising trunks for school and other travel needs. Something to carry his purchases in would be a good place to start.

  
Inside the store Harry was struck by the assortment on offer. The standard school trunk was on display up front, short, squat, and flat. Very bland in design, with a plate on the front which looked like it could be engraved.

  
As he looked over the trunk a salesperson sidled up and began to speak.

  
“Good morning young sir, getting ready for Hogwarts? I can answer any questions and help you find the perfect trunk for your needs.”  
“Is this the only style you have? I was hoping for something a little more lively.”

  
“Ah, a stylish young man. Well let’s start with the look you want. Right over here we have a variety of styles to choose from.” He was right about variety, there were a dozen different styles of trunk lined up on shelves along one wall. Short ones, long ones, flat, round top, even one that looked rather like a rugby ball. After looking them over for a few minutes Harry decided on a simple steamer trunk design that he thought would work well for him.

  
“Excellent a fine choice. Now for the really important part which enchantments would you like on it?”

  
“Can you tell me about the kinds of enchantments you can place on it?”

  
“Certainly, I would recommend a featherlight charm, and of course an expansion charm. We can also include multiple compartments if you like.”

  
“Multiple compartments, do you have a model on display with that option so I can get an idea of what I can do with that?”  
“Right over here.” The model in question was set up on the back wall, it had four compartments each of a different size. The first was just slightly bigger than the size of the trunk would indicate. The second compartment was roughly the size of a small closet. The third opened onto a space roughly ten feet on a side. And the final compartment was nearly thirty feet on a side, though still only about ten feet high.

  
“Wow, that’s more than I thought it would be.” Harry stood in thought for several long breaths. “Can you do three compartments, two closet size and one ten by ten?”

  
“We certainly can. It will take a couple hours to do the enchanting on your trunk choice. If you’re in a hurry we do have a few on hand with those specifications.”

  
“That’s ok, I can come back in a couple hours to pick up the trunk easily enough.”

  
“Excellent, just a little paperwork to get things moving. Oh, you asked for advice. You might consider a shrinking enchantment for ease of carry. Simply tap your wand on one of two runes or symbols to shrink it down and then the other to return it to full size. You will likely also want to get a backpack for carrying your books and notes around the school. I would recommend the shop next door. They use a set of enchantments which won’t interfere with those on your trunk. That way you can carry your pack in your trunk, or vice versa without worry. It isn’t always an issue, however some space enhancing enchantments interfere with each other. The interference can be explosive. Just a bit of advice.”

  
After filling out some paperwork and paying for the trunk Harry headed next door to pick out a backpack. This turned out to be quite simple and Harry was soon headed towards Madam Malkin's robes for all occasions with a brand new simple brown satchel with feather, extension, and shrinking enchantments hung from his shoulder.

  
At Madam Malkin's Harry was immediately struck by the wide array of fabrics and colors. The shop looked a bit like a rainbow had exploded on a fabric cart. The colors were all jumbled together, greens, purples, reds, yellows, blues, and so on. The fabric choices were just as jumbled, linen, cotton, canvas, silk, leather, and even a soft shimmery fabric that Harry couldn’t identify.

  
“Hogwarts dear?” Said a portly woman as he admired the cloth. “Won’t be in that stuff dearie. Hogwarts uniforms are required to be in a simple black linen. Although you can choose between closed or open robes. Closed are traditional, however most prefer open these days, more comfortable. Do you know your preference?”

  
“Umm, no ma’am. I’ve never worn robes before. Can I try both to see which I like more?”

  
“Of course dear, of course.” These words were accompanied by a broad smile that lit the woman's face. She almost looked motherly in that moment. “Here, climb up on here and we’ll get your measurements.” She indicated a small footstool which Harry stood on while the friendly witch took notes as a tape measure flew around measuring him.

  
Harry decided to get both open and closed robes so he would have options. He figured that he might want to switch occasionally.  
Regrettably the shop only carried wizarding styles so he would have to go elsewhere to get some new clothes in a more normal style. That would have to wait until later though.

  
The rest of his school supplies were determinedly less interesting to shop for, though he still had fun tracking them all down, and even had a short adventure gathering his potion supplies. He hadn’t returned to get his trunk at that point and it turned out there were more ingredients and tools than he could easily carry. In the end he left his purchases at the shop so he could pick up his trunk then returned for the potions equipment.

  
His next adventure of the day came at Ollivander's. According to the sign they had been providing fine wands since before Britain was Britain.

  
“Ah, mister Potter. I was wondering when I would see you.” The voice was quavering and cracked as though it came from someone unused to speaking. The man behind the counter who apparently was the owner of that ancient sounding voice, was nearly as old as he sounded. He had short, frizzy gray hair, and a carved wrinkly face. He came out from behind the counter and seemed to be inspecting Harry. “Yes, it seems like only yesterday when your father and mother were in here buying their own first wands. Your mother found a nice willow wand, ten and a quarter inches, swishy, nice wand for charms work. Your father selected a mahogany wand eleven inches, pliable, excellent for transfiguration. Well, I say that though it is really the wand that chooses the wizard. But let’s see which wand will choose you, shall we?”

  
Harry tried not to jump away from the man. He was a bit creepy, and his wide silver eyes refused to blink. Harry had the impression that this man was looking through him. Which unnerved the young man.

  
Ollivander, at least Harry assumed this was Ollivander, wandered to a pile of slim boxes and selected several. “Somewhere in here is the wand for you, I guarantee it. Here try this one.” And he handed Harry a slender wand. “Willow, and unicorn hair, go on give it a flick.”  
Harry waived the wand, but before it finished moving Ollivander yanked it from his hand. “Nope, not that one, here try this.”

  
Harry tried, and tried, and then tried again. But none of the wands mister Ollivander handed him seemed to work. “Tricky customer ‘ey. No matter we’ll find the match for you yet.” And he went into a back room, and returned with yet another pile of boxes. Sorting through them he stopped and lifted one. “Why not? Unusual combination, holly and phoenix feather. Go ahead.”

  
Gripping the wand firmly Harry swiped it down. A trail of blue and silver sparks lit from the wand and left an after trail in the air, much like the sparklers he had seen at the fair.

  
“Ah yes indeed, yes indeed. Excellent. Curious though, most curious.”

  
“What’s curious?” Harry asked, half expecting to learn that this wand marked him as unusual in some significant way.

  
“I have a perfect memory for wands mister Potter. I remember every wand I’ve ever sold. And it just so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather is in your wand, gave just one other. It seems curious that you should be destined for this wand, when it’s brother gave you that scar.”

  
Harry was struck speechless by this announcement. What did it mean, he wondered.

  
“Yes, very mysterious. It seems mister Potter that we must expect great things from you. After all, he who must not be named did great things, terrible yes, but great.”

  
Harry paid for his wand and left as quickly as he could without seeming rude.

  
One more stop he thought as he moved to the center of the alley to soak up the warm sunlight. After the news he had gotten in Ollivander's he was feeling distinctly chilled. He had spotted a magical camp store earlier near the trunk and pack stores. He had decided to put it off until his school shopping was finished. However, he felt that he needed something to distract and calm him after the visit to Ollivander's.

  
The camp store turned out to be a great find, if a little less stocked than he had expected. He was familiar enough with non-magical camp stores. Full of various tents sleeping bags, and all the tools and comforts to make camping both comfortable and fun. Here though, there were tents, and a few tools. He saw some ropes, and spare tent pegs, but nothing else. Curious he went to inspect the tent they had set up in the middle of the shop.

  
He soon learned why they didn’t have anything else on display. Inside the tent was huge. There were three bedrooms, a separate kitchen and dining area, even a washroom complete with a magical toilet and bathtub.

  
As he was exploring the tent a salesperson found him. “Good afternoon young sir. How can we help you today?” The sales wizard looked a bit bored, his dull brown eyes kept wandering off.

  
“Well sir, I haven’t seen a tent like this before. Is this the standard design?” Harry smiled at the young man, hoping to get his attention. He was very interested in these magical tents. If he could afford one he could use it as a place to stay until he could get a house of his own.

  
The man however sighed heavily as though he was bothered by having to answer questions. “This is our floor model. We have several styles available, and we can build one to suit your needs if you wish. The basic model comes with only the one space, large of course. Kitchen and dining area to one side, space for beds along the back wall. It costs fifty galleons. Models obviously increase in cost the more you want.

  
Harry tried not to gulp. That was almost half the money he had taken out of his vault. If he wanted one of the fancier models he would need to get more. On the other hand, he could get the simple model and then pick up anything else he might need later. Some of it even from non-magical stores. Nodding thoughtfully he agreed with himself. A few minutes later he had his new tent and a catalog of other options he could order later.

  
Finally he had only one place left to visit. The bookstore, which he had intentionally left for last so as to give himself as much time as possible to browse. While he had a list of required books, he wanted to pick up a few extra for background information, and other subjects not covered by his list.

  
At Flourish and Blotts he ran back into Hagrid who was looking a bit frantic. “Ah there you are Harry. Thought I’d lost you, been looking all up and down the alley. Well yer here now, ready to get yer books?”

  
Harry pulled open the door and motioned for Hagrid to enter ahead of him. Several minutes later Harry was getting frustrated. Hagrid kept steering him away from interesting looking titles and pushing him to just get the required books. After several failed attempts to grab a title not on the list he gave up and made a mental note to return later without the interfering giant. At the register he ran into a new problem. Apparently he had gone a bit overboard with his shopping and the coins he had left were not enough to cover his books. Fortunately the friendly book seller explained how to sign a bank draft which the store could exchange at Gringotts.

  
A grateful Harry quickly signed the draft and loaded his new books into his bag.

  
Finally it was time for his last task of the day. Ditching the gamekeeper before he was dragged back to the Dursley's. This proved to be a great deal easier than he expected, as Hagrid simply dropped him off at the train station with instructions on which train would get him back to Little Whinging.

  
Smiling at his luck he grabbed a map of the city from the visitors rack and headed to the nearest large park.


	2. Chapter 2

The magical tent Harry had picked up was as simple to set up as the man in the shop had said. A quick wand tap and it unfolded itself into place. The camouflage charms made it almost invisible, nestled in a small copse of trees. Holding back a whoop of excitement he entered the tent to fully examine the interior.

  
Inside the tent was cozy and warm. A simple wooden floor stretched wall to wall, a large cot snuggled into a corner upon which he placed his sleeping bag, and a small kitchen area with a magical stove and a small table. Harry looked upon his small kingdom and smiled. Far better than the makeshift tent/fort he had built back at the end of Privet drive.

  
He pulled out his trunk and began arranging things inside it. One of the closet size spaces became just that. He filled it with all his new robes and uniforms. With still enough space for a few more sets of clothes, which was good because he wanted to get some normal clothes as well. The second closet size space he filled with his camping tools. There weren’t many from the wizarding shop, a few lanterns one of which he placed on the kitchen table, and a pair of omnioculars which worked like binoculars, except they would also record events briefly so they could be viewed in slow motion. Harry thought he could use those to examine some animals up close without actually getting close.

  
The last, large space was the one he was most interested in though. He would need a few more things to make it perfect. Right now it was just an open ten by ten space. He wanted to use it as a small library and homework space. He would need some shelves, a desk, and maybe a computer for keeping track of everything and typing up his homework, plus random entertainment. Although he’d have to figure out a way to power it, he’d have to visit a non-magical camp store to see if they had any ideas on how to do that. Also a thrift store for an inexpensive desk and shelving options.

  
Tomorrow he thought I’ll head back to Gringotts, and make sure I’m the only person able to access my vault. I’m not sure how or why Hagrid had the key, but he can’t mean good with it or he’d have given to me rather than keep it. He or someone he works for must be planning to use my money for their own ends. I’ll stop that and find out if they have some other way to access it. I may need to simply close the vault and take everything.

  
After that I can exchange some money and go shopping in the non-magical world, and explore London. I haven’t gotten to explore a new place since I started primary school.

  
With happy thoughts of new adventures filling his mind he took the lantern over to the cot and settled down with one of his new school books to study before falling asleep.

The early morning light was glinting off the windows of opening shops as Harry strode down Diagon Alley to Gringotts. The on duty goblin looked chipper in the dawn chill and opened the door for him with a toothy smile. Harry nodded and said “Thank you sir.”

  
The goblin looked a bit stunned at this and replied, “You are welcome young sir, may your day be filled with battle.”

  
This caught Harry by surprise and he stopped. “With battle?”

  
“Huh, unfamiliar with goblin customs eh? For a goblin, combat is the height of living, challenge makes us improve ourselves, and makes the reward more savory. Thus a good day is filled with fights of one kind or another.”

  
“I see,” Harry smiled widely, “in that case, may you have many theft attempts to thwart.”

  
The goblin doubled over with laughter, nearly falling from the stairs. He rose steadily as the laughter slowed and stuck out his hand. “Well said young sir, I am Carnock and I would shake the hand of such a bold warrior.”

  
Reaching out to grasp the proffered hand and shaking it firmly Harry replied. “Well met Carnock, I am Harry Potter and while I am not sure if warrior is a proper description of myself I am glad to meet a fellow and hope to live up to the title.”

  
“Well said young Potter.” The goblin got a mischievous looking grin on its face. “Your family have long been known as excellent craftsmen. Perhaps your true battle will be to follow in their footsteps. I would be pleased to inspect your masterpiece when you have completed it.” The goblins grin grew even wider as it spoke. “Until then however I am afraid I must return to my duty. A thief approaches.” This last was spoken quietly and Harry saw that another customer was indeed approaching the bank.

  
“Thank you again Carnock, I’ll see you later.”

Inside Harry approached a goblin seated at a desk. “Good morning sir, is it possible to speak to someone about my vault? I have some questions that need an expert.”

  
The goblin looked down at him and grinned, “and who are you young sir?”

  
“Oh sorry, Harry Potter sir.”

  
The goblin turned and bellowed at one of the goblins standing by the iron door. “Felnore will take you to a vault manager.” The goblin waved him away.

  
“Thank you sir, may your day be a struggle and the reward great.”

  
The goblin goggled at Harry as he walked away. Wizards were not often either aware of, or respecting of goblin customs. This boy would be someone to keep an eye on.

Felnore led Harry to the office of Garnoc the vault manager and instructed him to wait. Looking around the office Harry was surprised to see that rather than the paperwork and files he had expected to see, the walls were adorned with various animal heads and weapons. He was engaged in a close look at a dragon head labeled as a welsh green when the door opened and an elderly goblin walked in.  
“It is very early young Potter, what can Gringotts do for you?”

  
“I am curious about a few things, to begin with, I visited my vault yesterday however I was not given my key, actually it was kept from me. Is that normal?”

  
“What you humans do with your keys is up to you. You should not have allowed someone to take it from you.”

  
“I had no way of taking it from that giant!” Harry exclaimed. He half glared at the goblin but managed to bite back his ire. He needed this creature to work with him, which meant he needed to be polite. “Okay, can I have a new one made,” he thought for a moment before he continued, “and prevent anyone else from using the old one?”

  
“We can do that, for a small fee of course.” The goblin smiled as he said the word fee, as though the thought of money might be the only thing that could make this goblin happy.

  
“Cool, let’s do that.” Harry was having trouble keeping the slight anger he was feeling out of his voice. It came across as a sort of chill in his words. “I don’t want anyone to be able to take anything from my vault without my permission.”

  
“A wise choice young Potter. There is some paperwork to file.” Garnock waved his hand and a small file appeared on his desk. Several minutes of signing forms and filling in numbers later and Harry had a new key and assurance that the old one would no longer be recognized.

  
“Wonderful, next since someone else has had access to my vault for years I hoped you could tell me if they had taken anything from it?”  
The goblin waved his hand again and a new file appeared on the desk. Leafing through it he soon found what he was looking for. “Hmm, your vault has been accessed only once between your parents deaths and your visit yesterday. That was shortly after your parents deaths. It appears something was left in the vault rather than removed. Does that answer your question?”

  
“It does, a bit surprising, but good.” Harry mentally scratched his chin for a moment before continuing. “Well moving on, last but not least. Is this the only vault I have or are there others?”

  
Garnock smiled widely, “ah, a fine question and one you won’t like. That is the only vault you have yes. The Potters did have two others, one contained the family gold, the other various artifacts and family heirlooms. A few months prior to the death of your parents Lucius Malfoy succeeded in obtaining control of the Potter wealth and claimed those vaults using Ministry edicts. The Malfoys now live in what was once Potter manor.

  
Harry was uncertain how to feel about this. On the one hand he was outraged that someone had stolen from his family, on the other hand he had never seen any of that and so didn’t know if it was something he would miss or not. He did determine to find out exactly what was stolen from him however and begin working out a way to get it back.

  
“If that is all young Potter there are other things I have to do with my day.”

  
Harry glared momentarily at the goblin who seemed to be laughing at him. “Yeah that’s all for now, thank you Garnoc. May you face great hardship and receive great praise this fine day.” With a parting glare he left the office and returned to the main floor to collect some money and exchange some of it for pounds.

After a stop at Flourish and Blotts to pick up a selection of books that Hagrid had tried to deny him he headed out into non-magical London for some shopping and sightseeing.

  
His first stop was a men’s clothing store where he selected several sets of outdoor wear and one nicer suit for special occasions along with a pair of hiking boots and trainers.

  
Finally dressed for acting like a tourist he set off to see London.

Several hours later he was seated in a small cafe enjoying lunch and going over everything he’d picked up so far. He had wandered through a few more parks to see if he could find a better place to set up his tent, visited the “London Bridge” and Big Ben along with Buckingham palace. At each stop he had picked up tourist maps, pens, and other nick-nacks and was debating on which items he would hold onto. After lunch he planned to hit the shops beginning with a camping supply store where hopefully he could learn a way to power lights and a computer and maybe a radio. Plus pick up a few other sundries such as a camp shower.

The camp store turned out to be another great find. Harry found books on all weather camping, favorite hiking trails of Britain, emergency medicine, and survival strategies for every environment, which he grabbed and placed in his cart immediately, along with the camp shower, and a few other sundries. He even found a helpful shopkeeper who explained how dynamo generators worked and hooked him up with a small one he could use to charge a set of batteries which would then be used to power a few small appliances.

  
A few stops for toiletries and food stuffs later found Harry looking over computers and printers at an electronics store. After some discussion with the clerk he selected a model that he felt would serve him best and tucked his purchases safely away in his satchel to head for the park for the night.

  
On his way back to the park he got sidetracked by a music store. It had several band posters in its windows and there was a catchy sort of song playing from speakers mounted over the door. Stepping inside he saw row upon row of cassette tapes, vinyl records, cd’s and even a rack of eight-track tapes. The store clerk approached and asked, “Can I help you find anything today?”

  
Looking around Harry realized that he had no idea what he was looking for, so he smiled at the clerk. “Umm, yeah I think you can. I’m looking for a good option to take to school with me. I’m going to a boarding school starting in September. I was hoping to take some music with me. Unfortunately, I’m not really familiar with all the options.”

  
“Well, let’s take a look.” She turned out to be really helpful, though she looked at him a bit oddly when he explained that he wasn’t sure what kind of music he liked.

  
The problem was that he had never been allowed to have any music of his own. And Dudley rarely played his music anywhere Harry could hear it. He had of course caught snippets on the radio or at various stores, but not enough to have figured out what he liked.  
In the end he decided on a wide selection, figuring he could listen to a little bit of everything until he found what he really liked.

The remainder of that evening was spent looking through all his various books and beginning to make notes on things he found interesting or about which he had questions, such as why his potions book failed to explain the ingredient prep methods used, or why his defense against the dark arts textbook contained no spells. Perhaps the teachers for those subjects would explain in more detail during class. Or considering some of the comments about muggle-born he had heard around the alley during his shopping trips perhaps the teachers expected students to already know some things. With that thought he resolved to return to the bookstore and pick up some books on basic methods.

  
After that he set up his telescope to observe the stars. He found the entire process a bit boring after ten minutes. While the stars were interesting and the stories of the constellations fascinating, the actual study of the stars was rather like watching paint dry, and almost as rewarding.

  
Charms and Transfiguration on the other hand were intriguing and fun to study. Following the directions in the books it took only a few tries to get spells working and soon he was making light with his wand, locking and unlocking his trunk, and changing some of his tourist nick-nacks into various objects with a wave of his wand.

  
When he finally opened his history of magic textbook he was quickly absorbed in reading about great witches and wizards from centuries past and their many discoveries and adventures. It seemed that every couple of decades some great event would occur which would require some great name or other to rise up and do something incredible. Regrettably, he thought as he slipped off to dream, there was nothing in his textbook about the discovery of magic itself or when wands were invented or how, or even as far as he’d gotten, about magical sites. Maybe they would study those things in a later year.

The next day he spent absorbed in his books learning about the various subjects he would be studying at Hogwarts and randomly making notes about things he found particularly useful or interesting. As night fell he realized that he hadn’t considered options for organizing his notes, and he still didn’t have book shelves or a desk. Planning to remedy those concerns in the morning he snuggled down for another night's rest.

  
On his way to Gringotts the following morning it occurred to him that his parents might have realized that the Malfoys were planning to steal from them and possibly hid something in his vault. When he arrived, he requested to be taken down to it and dug through the entirety of said vault. Unfortunately he found only coins. When he asked Carnock, who was working the carts that day and was pleased at the opportunity to chat with the young Potter again, on the return to the main floor, he explained that there may be other things in the vault however they could be held against Harry proving worthy of them. Which would mean that he had to be a specific age, or had to perform a certain act, or one of a myriad other possibilities. Although he was unaware of whether any such bequests were present.

  
Somewhat disappointed at the lack of new discoveries Harry hit the bookstore once more to pick up some books on basic methods for potions and magical survival techniques. While searching he also grabbed a book he spotted on common magical creature threats in the UK, as he intended to do some backpacking later and it would be good to have some idea of what to watch out for.

  
While searching through the shelves he found a list of classes offered at Hogwarts including the optional classes he could take later and decided to pick up some books on those subjects as well so he could get a head start on deciding which subjects he would like to take in later years.

  
The non-magical thrift shop he visited in hopes of finding some inexpensive shelves unfortunately failed to have what he was looking for, so he went to one of the large outlet stores in non-magical London. A quick jog around the store showed him where all the cameras were and the patterns the employees were using. Armed with that knowledge he was easily able to slip several shelves and a large corner desk into the shrinking pocket of his satchel without being noticed. He then took several binders and stacks of loose paper for organizing his notes to the checkout and paid for them. This neatly deflected any suspicion of him being the shoplifter when it was discovered.

  
Back at his tent he pulled out the IKEA shelves and desk and enjoyed a couple hours of putting them together and sorting through his books to be placed on the shelves. Next he set up his computer and printer on the desk and installed the batteries for them in a corner under the desk and hooked up the wiring so they could be charged with the dynamo generator he had gotten from the camp store.  
It was a satisfied and accomplished feeling Harry who fell exhausted into bed that night.

The next few days Harry filled with practicing ingredient prep for potions by making every meal from scratch and using a variety of recipes, strolls through the park to observe local plants and animals all non-magical of course but he figured the basics would be the same. Stargazing at night was still boring but he figured he should get used to it. Daily spell practice he found enjoyable and rewarding as he learned many of the spells from his books by rote, though he did think of a few questions he wanted to ask about how the spells were discovered. And of course a lot of reading. It was the happiest he could remember being in his entire life. Of course it had to end.


	3. Chapter 3

A week after he had been freed from the Dursley's he was on his way back. He had woken that morning to find Hagrid standing outside his tent with a disgruntled look on his face. He had allowed Harry only enough time to pack up his belongings before rushing him to the train station and back to the Dursley's. It seemed that whatever it was that had prevented him from leaving was still in effect, and that it likely came from the magical world.

  
When they arrived at number 4 Privet drive aunt Petunia waited until Hagrid left before screaming at him and ordering him to his room. When Vernon got home he demanded that all of Harry’s school things be placed in the cupboard he used to live in. When Harry attempted to argue with him Vernon got very red and backhanded Harry sending the boy falling across his small bed with a split lip.

Vernon quickly grabbed up everything he could reach, which included the trunk and slammed the door behind him as he left the room.  
That night after everyone else was asleep Harry pulled the small hammer and screwdriver from where he had hid them under his bed and got to work. A few quick taps had the hinges removed from the door, a couple more downstairs had the cupboard open. From there it was the work of only a few minutes to get everything packed and ready for him to leave. Before he did though he raided the fridge and pantry for everything he could keep fresh or use quickly, then slipped out the back door and grabbed Dudley's racing bike which had somehow avoided being broken, most likely by virtue of having never been used.

  
A few days ago he had been planning to hike all across the country, however with the return to privet drive he wondered if perhaps whatever magic had been keeping him here had been reinforced. He decided that he would check it out tomorrow, for tonight he just needed a place to set up his tent.

  
A couple miles away in a small wood he found what he needed, a hidden clearing surrounded by trees and next to a small stream. He had hidden here on one of his previous attempts to escape and had not been found until he ventured to a nearby store to nick some food. He felt reasonably secure as he set up his tent and readied himself for bed.

Over breakfast Harry considered his options, he could try to leave, however that would most likely trigger whatever magic kept forcing him back to the Dursley's. Alternately he could stay in the area, he knew that as long as he didn’t go more than about five miles from the house he would be able to avoid being forced back as long as he didn’t get caught stealing again. Given that it took a week for Hagrid to come after him in London, he thought that if he left Privet Drive a day or two before time to catch the train he should be okay, and that would give him time to figure out where platform nine and three quarters was. Staying put would also make pre-study easier, since he wouldn’t be using half his time just walking from place to place. Decision made he got out his books and continued reading.

  
The next two and a half weeks went by easily enough. Harry spent most of his time reading and practicing, with the occasional break for hiking and swimming in the stream. He did have to gather food a few times, however he found that slipping back into number 4 at night to steal from the pantry was simple enough as he still had a key.

  
Finally the day of departure came and Harry carefully made his way to the train station and purchased a seat for the London express. As he had thought, whatever magic was in place to keep him here seemed to leave him be as the train rolled out of the station.

  
In London he made his way to Charing cross to locate the platform, however he was disappointed to see that it was not clearly placed. Guessing that the platform would be more visible on the first, he made his way to a nearby park and set up his tent. The next couple of days went much the same as those before and soon enough the first was upon him.

  
He arrived at the station early with all his things safely tucked away in his satchel. A quick look at where he thought the platform should be showed him that it still was not showing itself. Perhaps he had to tap a certain brick like at diagon alley. He went back and forth across the wall between platforms nine and ten tapping each brick with his wand, which did nothing but draw odd looks. Eventually out of ideas he sat down to watch the wall and wait. Shortly after 10 o’clock he began noticing people pushing carts loaded with trunks, and the occasional owl. They would move through the area and suddenly disappear by the wall. Thinking that perhaps the entrance would now show itself he tried again but still he was unable to find it. Eventually he decided to move closer and watch carefully. There must be some trick to it that he was missing.

  
Thirty minutes later he finally saw it, the trick seemed to be to simply walk directly through the center of the wall, though most of the younger kids ran. Once the way was clear again he made his attempt, he walked as confidently as he could towards the center point and closed his eyes. A moment later he felt a slight chill and heard a lot of people.

  
Opening his eyes he saw a large throng of people most of whom were dressed in robes, and many who were pushing trolleys toward a massive crimson steam engine with a sign proclaiming it to be the Hogwarts Express. He had made it.

  
Holding in a whoop he pulled his hat down a little tighter over his scar and messy hair. He boarded the train as quick as he could, and found an empty compartment. Settling in for the trip he pulled out a book to pass the time.

  
It wasn’t long before the door opened and a boy looked in. The boy had a large round face and extremely short hair, he looked back out into the hall and spoke to someone Harry couldn’t see. “Only one in here.”

  
A moment later four boys pushed their way into the compartment and glared at Harry. All of them were wearing robes and seemed to defer to the smallest among them, a blonde haired boy who looked rather haughty. The boy looked down at Harry and in what was clearly the most pompous voice he could manage said, “This is our compartment you’ll have to find somewhere else.”

  
Not wanting to back off too easily Harry stood and glared at the boy, “I was here first. What makes you think you have the right to kick me out?”

  
“I’m Draco Malfoy, and we’re all pure bloods.” He said gesturing to his companions. “That makes us better than a filthy little mudblood like you. You’ll leave or something bad will happen to you.”

  
Stunned for a moment at the boys name, this was a member of the family that had stolen from his, Harry was too slow in deciding what to do. One of the two large boys who were clearly the muscle of the group punched him in the gut and shoved him out the door.

  
Doubled over trying to catch his breath Harry almost missed what Malfoy said before the door was closed in his face. “Next time do as your betters tell you before you have to be shown.”

  
Not wanting to deal with a similar occurrence again Harry didn’t bother to find another compartment, instead he found the baggage car and hunkered down behind a stack of luggage and settled in for a long ride.


	4. Chapter 4

Several hours later after a nap and much reading the train reached its destination. Exiting the car onto the station ramp he saw Hagrid standing off to one side and decided to linger by the door so as not to be noticed. Until the giant started yelling, “first years, first years over here, line up there.” A short walk down the hill revealed a group of boats into which the first years were chivied. The trip across the lake would have been interesting had he not been scrunched into a boat with three chattering girls who were more interested in each others clothes than the scenery around them. Although they did manage to stop and gape in awe at the castle when it came into view.

  
Inside the castle the first years were led into a room by a severe looking woman who introduced herself as professor Mcgonagall and explained the sorting process. They were led out in front of the entire school and Mcgonagall began calling each of them to the hat in alphabetical order. When it was his turn he picked up the hat wondering how this would work.

  
“Well, what do we have here? A fine young mind indeed.” A voice whispered into his ear.

  
“Oh, hello.”

  
The hat chuckled softly, “hello young Potter. You are a most surprising person.”

  
Harry stiffened, the hat was in his head. It would know his thoughts. Things he didn't want anyone else to know.

  
“Peace young Potter your secrets are safe. I shall never tell anyone. I am bound to protect the students of Hogwarts.”

  
Harry calmed a bit. “Okay, thank you. Umm, so what's surprising?”

  
“Well it is uncommon to meet someone like you. Cunning and ambitious enough to make any Slytherin jealous. Brave and honorable enough to make a Gryffindor proud. Studious enough to give a Ravenclaw a headache. And accepting enough to make a Hufflepuff cheer. You could go to any house and fit in well. Have you a preference?”

  
“Well, I think some people might react poorly if I went to Slytherin. Really though I'd like to be somewhere people will leave me alone to do my own thing. Somewhere I can go unnoticed. If one of the houses fits for that?”

  
“Hmm, I think you may have some trouble with going unnoticed. You are rather famous already you know. Still, I wish you luck with all you do. And if you want to pass by with minimal attention then I think you’ll like Ravenclaw!” The last word was spoken loudly and rang across the hall. The room was silent for a moment before one of the long tables erupted with applause.

  
Harry slipped off the stool and made his way to the cheering table and took a seat at the end smiling weakly at the other students around him.

  
There was much chatter over the feast. The older students discussed classes and exams while the younger chatted about what to expect from the teachers. Harry listened attentively, hoping to get some clues about what he was expected to know already. Unfortunately all he could catch was those closest who seemed more interested in each other. He did learn that his year mates had apparently all grown up together and were already friends. So he was largely left out of the conversation. Which he preferred, even if he had thought for a bit that maybe it would be different here and he might actually get to make a friend. But he knew he wasn't allowed to have friends, that was for normal people, and he was a freak. Not the way uncle Vernon meant of course, but still.

  
In the muggle world he couldn't fit in because he had magic, no family, no home, and no money. Here in the wizarding world he had no previous knowledge to work from, no family, no home, and not enough money to matter thanks to Malfoy and whoever helped him. Plus whoever wanted him to be a prisoner at the Dursleys. He must be a freak if someone wanted him trapped like that. Or at least someone thought he was, and before he could hope to be normal he had to find a way to get free.

  
While he ate his way through a wonderful meal of meat pies, pasties, roast veggies, and other excellently prepared foods the green eyed wizard observed the staff table. Dumbledore sat in the middle in a throne like chair which screamed to the room, my occupant is very important. To his sides sat Mcgonagall and an extremely short man with wild tufted grey hair. Hagrid sat next to aa man who was missing half of his left arm, they seemed to be chatting amiably. A young woman sat next to them talking with a plump jovial looking woman with a patched hat and a lot of wavy grey hair. On the other side Quirrell was talking to a rather tall thin man with long greasy looking black hair. As he looked at them the man turned revealing a long hooked nose and dark beady eyes. As their eyes met there was a prickling across his scar, and he almost gasped. He just managed to hold in his reaction and calmly looked to the next person at the table, he was however unable to concentrate further on the various professors and soon gave up observing the head table.

  
The end of the feast saw the headmaster rise to make a few announcements. “Ah, another year at Hogwarts. Another year of learning, of making friends, of earning praise. To our new students, welcome. To our old students, welcome back. A few announcements before bed. First the forbidden forest is off limits to all students. Second the third floor corridor on the right hand side is out of bounds for all those who do not wish to die a most painful death.”

  
As he heard that Harry wondered what was hidden on the third floor that the headmaster wanted to keep them away from. Likely whatever Hagrid had taken from Gringotts. Possibly something valuable. He easily decided to check on the corridor soon.

  
“And now the school song.” Apparently Harry had missed part of the headmaster's speech while he was speculating. Hopefully he hadn't missed anything important. The song was really quite odd, and he quickly forgot it in the press to get to Ravenclaw tower.

  
At the tower the prefect explained that whenever they wished to enter they would be required to answer a question from the knocker. Questions ranged through class subjects to riddles to the history of Hogwarts and more. Harry smiled inwardly at the thought of the regular challenge and incentives to learn more.

  
The common room was spacious and warm, several long tables filled half the room. The walls were full of books and the large fireplace had a ring of comfy looking chairs facing it. It seemed a great place to study even with the imposing statue against one wall nestled between the bookcases.

  
As he finished his mental sweep of the room the prefect continued, “up the stairs to the left are the girls dorms, to the right the boys. First door you come to is the first years. I recommend getting a good night's sleep, the first day is always a little rough.”

  
The dorm room was cozy with a large four poster bed for each of the new students. The others had their trunks already at the end of their beds. Only one bed was missing a trunk making it clear that one was Harry's.

  
One of the other boys, he thought it was Terry Boot looked over, “where's your trunk Potter?”

  
Harry reached into his satchel and pulled it out. Placing it on the floor he tapped the picture of a bear he had requested for the grow symbol, and smiled as the others gasped when the trunk grew to its full size. Opening the closet compartment he pulled out his sleep wear and got changed. “Well, good night all. See you in the morning.” He called to the room, and happily fell into the bed and was almost instantly asleep.


	5. Chapter 5

Classes the first day were indeed rough. The first year Ravenclaws had charms, history of magic, and defense against the dark arts.

  
Charms was interesting if a bit slow. Professor Flitwick beamed proudly when he called Harry’s name from the roll, and quickly went into an explanation of simple spell practice. He gave them several wand movements to practice while explaining the importance of proper pronunciation.

  
History however was dreadfully dull. Professor Bins was a ghost and had almost no inflection. He made no attempt to make the subject interesting and simply lectured endlessly about some goblin uprising or other. Harry fell asleep halfway through and had to be jostled awake by his housemates when it was time to go to lunch.

  
After lunch Harry got his first real taste of defense with Professor Quirrell. The classroom was fairly normal looking, except that it was a little dark and filled with the scent of garlic. Quirrell was standing behind his desk apparently trying to look impressive, which image was destroyed when he began speaking a moment later.

  
“G-g-good m-mo-morning c-cl-class. We-wel-welcome to de-de-defence ag-ag-against the d-dark arts.”

  
It did not improve. Harry quickly developed a throbbing headache. Unfortunately he couldn’t tell if it was from trying to follow the stuttering, the slurry of aromas wafting through the class, or the occasional prickles across his scar which seemed to happen every few minutes.

  
Harry was well pleased to get back to the tower that night where he could relax a bit. He opened his study room and slipped inside to organise the days notes, realising that he hadn’t really learned anything. Although in charms that was clearly due to having read ahead already. In history it was more due to the ghost being far too boring to follow, and in defence it was several things together. Rather than complain he turned on his stereo got some music playing low and pulled out his books to catch up.

  
The next day wasn’t much better. Transfiguration in the morning, followed by potions in the afternoon.

  
He was late to transfiguration as he decided to explore a bit before class and got lost. He ran into Mr. Filch the caretaker who ushered him away from a door which apparently led to the forbidden corridor. When he made it to the classroom, professor Mcgonagall looked up.

  
“Late mister Potter? Not a good start. Please find a seat quickly. We have only just started so it shouldn’t be difficult to catch up. I’ll be over to assist you in just a moment.”

  
“I’m sorry professor, I got lost.” He looked around and took the first open seat he saw which happened to be next to one of the Gryffindors with whom they shared the class. A girl with rather a lot of bushy brown hair who smiled at him.

  
“Hello, I’m Hermione Granger.” She introduced herself. “I’ve read all about you of course, you’re in modern magical history, and the rise and fall of the dark arts.”

  
Harry simply blinked at the girl for a moment trying to process her rapid speech. “Wow, I wonder if any of it is accurate. I didn’t pick up either of those when I went through the bookstore. I don’t suppose you brought them with you, would you let me look at them if you did?”

  
“Oh,” the girl blushed, “I didn’t have enough room in my trunk. The library should have copies though.” She smiled shyly at him, “we could go look later if you want.” This last was said in almost a whisper.

  
“Sure, I was planning to check out the library after potions. I’ll see you there.”

  
The girl smiled brightly at him. “Okay, umm why wouldn’t they be accurate though?”

  
Before Harry could respond a shadow fell across them and professor Mcgonagall was looking down at them. I’m glad to see that the two of you are making friends. However, class time is meant to be used for practice. Miss Granger perhaps you could demonstrate for mister Potter what we are practising today.”

  
“Oh, of course professor. Sorry professor.” She raised her wand pointed it at a quill on her desk and said an incantation with a look of concentration. In a moment the quill turned into a ballpoint pen.

  
Professor Mcgonagall blinked, “um what is that miss Granger?”

  
“It’s a muggle pen professor. I guess I wasn’t concentrating properly.”

  
“Indeed, still a nice transfiguration. Try again though and this time keep in mind the image of a scroll of parchment.” She smiled gently as she spoke showing that she wasn’t angry.

  
Hermione took a deep breath and tried again. This time she got a roll of parchment, however it was colored like the feather rather than the soft cream of regular parchment. “Oh, well that's better but still not right. I’ll keep trying professor.” She seemed rather more downcast than was warranted by the near success Harry thought.

  
“Excellent miss Granger, do that. And two points to Gryffindor. Well mister Potter lets see you try.”

  
Harry nodded and pulled a roll of parchment and a quill from his bag and studied the parchment carefully for a moment.

  
“What are you doing mister Potter?”

  
“Well the book says that in order to get the change you want correct you have to properly visualize what you want. I haven’t really looked at a roll of parchment before so I’m getting an idea of what I want the final effect to look like.” Completing his inspection he set the parchment down and raised his wand. A moment later there were two rolls of parchment on the desk and Mcgonagall was smiling at him.

  
“Well done mister Potter. Two points to Ravenclaw. Lets see.” She picked up the transfigured roll and attempted to unroll it. However it remained a roll. “It seems you have made a solid roll rather a proper roll. Try again.”

  
“Oops, sorry professor I forgot that bit.” He raised his wand and resaid the incantation and the new parchment unrolled.

  
“Excellent work mister Potter, continue practising.” And she left to assist other students.

  
“Wow Harry that’s amazing. How did you do it?”

  
“I had a lot of time to practice before school started and I picked up some extra books on theory and practise that explained better than the textbook. Basically you have to get a really good mental picture of what you want to change the quill into, in this case a roll of parchment. The image needs to be complete, which is why my first roll was more like a wood carving. Then you have to really want to change the quill into the parchment, I think you got that part right because it did change for you. Finally you have to feed enough energy into the desire to make it happen, that's the magic part of course. Again I’d say you got that part right. So really I think you just need to work on improving your mental image.”

  
“But, but, you’re not supposed to do magic outside of school. You can get in a lot of trouble.”

  
“Oh, no one told me that. I guess no one noticed because no one said anything to me about it. I’ll remember for next year though.

Thanks.” He smiled at the girl. It felt nice to actually talk with someone like this. Sharing information rather than being told off or yelled at.

  
“You’re welcome.” The response seemed a bit rote as though it was something she said out of habit rather than really meaning it. But then she turned to her quill and tried the spell again, this time getting it right.

  
Suddenly Harry found himself being engulfed by the girl as she wrapped her arms around him and he coughed as he got a mouthful of bushy hair. “Thank you Harry, it worked perfectly.” She was beaming at him as she pulled away.

  
“Umm you’re welcome Hermione. I’m glad I could help. Shall we practise some more? Maybe we can make more elaborate scrolls?” Why ever had she done that. He wracked his memory for any previous instance of someone grabbing him in that way. But he couldn’t think of any time when someone had grabbed him without intending harm of some kind. She clearly had not meant him any harm though.

Indeed she had let go of him almost before he could react at all, and she didn’t seem angry at all.

  
Hermione smiled again and turned to the roll on her desk. The rest of class they spent trying to outdo each other making more and more elaborate rolls of parchment until the bell rang. Although Harry kept thinking back on that moment of contact and what it might mean. He had seen Petunia grab Dudley like that once in a while, though recently Dudley seemed not to like it very much.

  
By the end of the class he still had not figured out what she had intended and decided to put the whole incident aside for the moment until he had more information to work with.

Potions was an unmitigated nightmare. It began with the taking of the roll just like Flitwick when Professor Snape reached Harry's name he stopped. Unlike Flitwick, he did not smile. “Ah yes, Harry Potter our new celebrity.” He spoke with a quiet drawl as though he wanted to caress each word as it left his lips. Harry found it a bit creepy. When he finished the roll he looked over the class and Harry got the impression that he was deciding which of them would be best to cut up for ingredients. He had read in one of the extra defence books he had picked up that there were some potions that required parts from a human.

  
“Let us begin with a simple test to see if any of you have already begun to study. Potter, what would you get if you added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?”

  
Harry searched his mental library for a moment and found the answer quickly. It was in fact a potion he had brewed over the summer as it worked quickly and required only a few drops to be ingested. He had tested it in a mister bottle on a couple of dogs and had planned to try it on Dudley if he had ever run into him. “Draught of living death sir, a powerful sleeping potion.” He said with pride, glad that he could answer a question correctly.

  
Snape scowled at him and turned to another student. “Bones where would you look if I asked you to find me a bezoar?”

  
A redheaded Hufflepuff girl squeaked and seemed to shiver before raising her head. “If it was an emergency, I’d check the cupboard, if it was for restocking I’d go to the apothecary. If I was in the field I’d look for a goat since that’s where they are found in nature. In the goat’s stomach.”

  
Snape scowled even more at this response and turned to another student “Finch-Fletchley, in what potion might you use crushed aloe leaves.”

  
Finch-Fletchley, another Hufflepuff, had a look on his face like a deer caught in a car’s headlights and slowly said, “I don’t know, sir.”

  
Snape pounced, “thought you wouldn’t open a book before you came to class ‘ey. Five points from Hufflepuff. For the rest of you crushed aloe leaves are most commonly used in a variety of healing potions. We will in fact be using them today in the boil cure potion you will be attempting. Instructions are on the board, begin.” He waved his wand at the board and a set of instructions appeared. Snape spent the remainder of the class swooping around the room making disparaging comments about almost everyone and decrying the pitiful efforts of the eleven year olds in the room.

The library was a welcome retreat when he got there. Hermione was still in class so he approached the librarian. “Excuse me ma’am, can you tell me if there’s a book here on the rules students are expected to follow. I’d like to be sure I’m doing things properly and what to do if someone is being a problem.”

  
The librarian seemed quite surprised and merely stared at him for a moment. “Well now, that’s an unusual question. Most children don’t care about the rules, or just assume they know them already. I should have something over here though.” She led him over to a section of shelves which seemed to hold books on laws. She pulled one down from a middle shelf, opened and looked at the first page for a moment before handing it to him. “Yes I think that one will answer your question dear. Remember to keep quiet in the library. You are welcome to study here as much as you like, however you must be respectful of others and keep the room as clear of distractions as you can. If you get too noisy I’ll have to kick you out.”

  
“Thank you ma’am, I’ll be sure to stay as quiet as a mouse.” He smiled at the kindly woman and made his way to a table to begin reading.

  
He was engrossed in a section on how to get out of a class when someone plopped down in the seat next to him and it took him a moment to realize it was Hermione. “What are you reading?” She asked brightly reaching for the book.

  
“It’s basically the student handbook. All the rules that apply to students, what we are allowed to do, what we get in trouble for, suggested punishment for each. It clearly hasn’t been updated in a long time though. Some of the punishments listed are barbaric.” He turned the pages back to one of the things he’d found which called for the offending student to be bound to a wall in the great hall for a day and any student who wished was allowed to slap them.

  
“That’s disgusting.” Hermione cried, and Harry quickly shushed her.

  
“Madame Pince said she’d have to kick us out if we get too loud. I agree that’s a terrible punishment no matter what the crime. Like I said this book is horribly out of date. I doubt they would do that anymore. Though it might be a good idea to ask our heads of house to be sure.” Harry tried to calm the slightly panicky girl down before she caused a scene and got them kicked out of the library. There were a large number of books in there that he wanted to look through. “There’s also an explanation of how to get out of a class if you don’t want to do it. A little complicated but fairly easy. You just have to convince your head of house that you’d do better without the class. I’m thinking of trying to get out of history and defence.”

  
“But we need those classes, they’re required.” Hermione took in a deep breath and Harry recognized the start of a rant, aunt Petunia did the same thing when she was about to get on a roll about how worthless and ungrateful he was.

  
In an effort to head off the lecture he asked, “so did you want to look at the book we talked about in class? I brought the one I told you about if you’d like to look at it.” This did thankfully head her off and she nodded.

  
They both went for their bags and pulled out a book each to offer the other. As their eyes met over the books they laughed which broke the tension nicely.

  
“Thanks Harry, I’m sure this will help a lot. I’m sorry I went off about you wanting to drop classes. That really sounds like a bad idea to me but if it’s really what you want to do I guess I shouldn’t argue with you about it.” She really didn’t sound like she was willing to let it go. However she moved on rapidly. “This is an encyclopedia my parents found, listing things you can find in the magical world. We went through it to see if any of the magical things in stories are real. Some of them are like flying carpets, and brooms, and things. I thought you might like to look through it.”

  
“Wow, that does sound pretty cool, I wonder if there are things like magic rings, or clothes. I know there are magic trunks and bags, since I have both. But enchanted clothes to keep warm in winter, or stay dry in a rainstorm would be awesome too.” He said holding up the book she’d offered him. “And don’t worry about freaking out, I do it too sometimes. It’s no big deal.”

  
The two fell into a comfortable silence as they paged through their respective books and eventually moved onto other subjects.

  
At one point Harry glanced over to see Hermione leafing through a book that appeared to be about normal, non-magical animals and got a bit confused. “Umm Hermione, is that a book about animals?”

  
Hermione jumped slightly and looked over at him a little guiltily. “No, it’s about animagi.”

  
“What’s that?” He asked.

  
“Oh, that’s right you missed that part of the class. It turns out that professor Mcgonagall is one. She can turn into a cat. She was sitting on her desk in cat form when we got there, and then when class was about to begin, she jumped off her desk and transformed back to normal in mid air. It seemed a bit fascinating so I wanted to look it up. Here have a look, this book doesn’t seem very informative about the process, rather it’s more interested in how animal selection works.” She turned the book so they could both read it together. Harry soon resolved to learn more about this, and to ask Mcgonagall about it during their next transfiguration class.

  
As they were packing up to leave Harry offered, “I was planning to explore the castle tomorrow after classes, would you like to join me?”

  
“Umm, that does sound like fun, and probably a good idea. But I prefer to study during the week. Would you mind waiting for the weekend to explore?”

  
Harry thought for a moment, it would be a good idea to get people thinking that he was exploring with someone else so that when he went to check out the third floor they would either think he was in his study room or the library, or out with his new friend. So it would be good to wait, on the other hand he was excited at the opportunity to explore a new place. Of course he could do both, he would need to get used to wandering around the castle alone anyway. Yes that would work well. Finally he looked back at Hermione. “Yeah that’s okay. Saturday then. I’ll be here after classes tomorrow then if you want to study together again.”

  
Hermione smiled so big he thought her cheeks would split. “I’d love that Harry.” And once again she threw herself at him and wrapped him in a hug. Before he could react she was backing away blushing. “I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

  
There it was again he thought as he packed up his materials. Why did she do that? What does it mean? He looked around for a moment, but he doubted there were any books in here that would be able to explain it.

  
Back in his study space Harry made some notes on rules and ideas he had for getting out of his two useless classes, as well as a couple of things he saw in the encyclopedia that he wanted to pick up. He also wrote out an order for books on animagi he would send out later.

He wouldn’t be able to put any of his new plans into effect for at least a few weeks as he needed to be able to demonstrate that he would be better off without the class time, which would take a lot of study. Not to mention that he would have to wait for information about animagi to reach him. He also wanted to learn more about the theory behind spell creation. He had noticed a discrepancy in incantations that confused him.

The next few days went by quickly. Astronomy was mostly boring, but Harry thought he could use some of the information for navigating at least. Hermione turned out to be a bit bossy although since Harry only rarely disagreed with her that wasn’t too much of a problem. She also liked hugs a lot which was a bit disconcerting, but he hid his reaction until he simply got used to the feeling.

  
Exploring the castle turned out to be more fun than he had expected. He made sure to stay away from the third floor corridor when Hermione was with him, but they found numerous unused classrooms which he thought he might be able to use as brewing space. There were plentiful shortcuts they could use to get to classes quicker or to get away from unwanted people. And even a few hidden spaces Harry could use to hide if he ever needed to.

  
On one of his solo excursions wandering around the seventh floor debating with himself about where he might be able to set up a personal brewing area for practice and study he found the perfect place. It was a small room with space for two brewing stations, a small cupboard he could keep some ingredients in, and a table just big enough for prep work and holding a book open to the needed recipe.

Excited over the possibilities this out of the way little room offered he headed back to his own room to plan out what he wanted to brew and start ordering any extra ingredients he might need.

  
A surprise came at the end of the week in the form a large snowy owl landing in front of Harry at breakfast. The bird was really quite lovely and everyone nearby cooed over it. The owl seemed uninterested in anyone except Harry though, she turned her head back and forth observing him closely before barking and holding out her leg to which a note was tied. Harry had seen the mail owls arrive several times of course, however this was the first time someone had sent him something.

  
He reached out cautiously and untied the note. Once it was clear of her leg the owl jumped from the table, but rather than leaving she settled on Harry’s shoulder and began to preen his hair. Feeling mildly confused and a bit unsettled at the birds actions he opened the note hoping there was an explanation inside.

  
Dear Harry, the note said, in the excitement of being separated I forgot to get ya a birthday present. I noticed that you didn’t bring an animal with you so I got you this owl. Dead useful owls, carry your mail and everything. Also, I know that you have Friday afternoons free. I’d like it if you could come down for a spot of tea and a chat. I’d love to hear how your first week has gone. Hagrid.

  
Harry reached up and stroked the owls feathers as she continued to attempt to groom his hair. “That’s a losing battle, I’ve been trying for years. Can’t get it to do anything else no matter what.” She barked at him and continued. “Well if you’re that determined I wish you luck. You’re going to need a name I think, hmm something regal.” He munched on some bacon offering a bit to the beautiful owl as he considered options, finally settling on a name he had seen in a history of magic that appealed to him. “Hedwig, what do you think girl?” The owl barked again, gently nipped his ear, stole the bacon he had in his hand and flew off. “Well, I’m gonna take that as a yes.”


	6. Chapter 6

The meeting with Hagrid went about as he anticipated. Hagrid was indeed interested in how he was settling in, whether he had made any friends, how he was doing in his classes, even what he had found around the school. It seemed a bit fishy, this guy was an adult, what would he find interesting about a kids day to day life. Hagrid did invite him to bring Hermione the following week for another visit, and offered him a fairly nice tea, and some rock cakes that nearly broke his teeth. So maybe the man was just an overgrown man child himself. Still he had a month old newspaper laid out on the table to an article discussing a break in at Gringotts the day they had visited.

Taken together the entire scene seemed a bit manipulative. The green eyed young wizard did agree to return and to bring Hermione if she agreed though. It seemed like a good way to pass inaccurate information, and a chance to find out if this guy was for real.

Shortly into October he decided to put his plan for getting out of the undesirable classes into action. Approaching Flitwick’s office he realized he was shaking slightly. His nerves were getting to him. What if Flitwick denied him, or worse laughed at him. The rules said he could do this, but then so many adults had ignored the rules, were he was concerned, through his life that he wasn’t sure if this one would be different or not. That little voice that he thought was his father’s was whispering in his head. “They can’t be trusted, you have to do it alone.”

  
Shaking his head to clear it, he reached up and knocked on the door to the office.

  
“Come in.” Flitwick’s squeaky voice called.

  
Entering the office Harry responded. “Hello professor, do you have a few minutes? I was hoping to talk with you about a few things.” He stood just inside the doorway, ready to run if he needed to and trying not to show just how nervous he was.

  
“Of course mister Potter, please come in, have a seat.” He motioned to the chairs facing his desk. As Harry came forward and took the offered seat he continued, “I have about twenty minutes until time for my next class mister Potter so as long as you keep your request concise I’m sure we can manage. What can I do for you.”

  
Harry looked into the short man’s eyes and studied his face for a moment to gauge what kind of mood he was in. He was smiling broadly and had a twinkle of merriment in his eye, so Harry thought he would probably not react poorly and so he started. “Well professor, there are two things I wanted to ask about. The first I think will take longer. I looked up the rules on dropping classes and they said that a student can drop a core class if they can demonstrate that the classroom time is less beneficial to their learning than self study. I was hoping you would be willing to test me out of history and defence. I can barely stay awake in history making it useless for actually learning and if I’m going to use that time to study other subjects like a lot of people do anyway, there's really no reason to actually be in the class. Defence is worse though, between the stuttering and the headache I can’t concentrate on anything in that class.” He paused to give the professor a chance to think and maybe respond.

  
Flitwick apparently did have something to say as he opened his mouth looking a little grave. “I am sorry to hear that your classes are not going well. Most students complain about Bins eventually, though you are only the second who asked me about getting out of the class. Most are willing to simply use the time. Certainly I can come up with a test to let you out of the time slot though. You’ll need to be very prepared though, it will be roughly equivalent to the end of term exam, and you will still need to pass the end of year exam with your fellow students. Defense is a little more difficult however, what do you mean about headaches?”

  
“Well professor within a minute or two of the class starting, I get a throbbing headache. I think I might be allergic to something in his incense, except I’ve never had a reaction like that before. It might just be the combination of low lighting, smoky air and his stuttering. Regardless of the cause though, I can’t concentrate in the class.”

  
“Hmm, I’ll have to do some thinking on that. It’s unfortunately been a long time since we had a good instructor for defence against the dark arts. I can offer a small amount of tutoring, however my time is limited. Again the test won’t be easy, but I’ll come up with something. However I’m also going to recommend that you visit Madam Pomfrey in the hospital wing. She might be able to do something about the headaches. I’m surprised you didn’t ask about getting out of potions, most students do by the end of the first month. Only one of your year mates hasn’t yet. And given what Severus has to say about you in the staff room I’d expect you would really want out.” He was smiling again so Harry felt sure the professor was merely asking rather than poking fun at him.

  
“Oh, I would very much like to drop potions professor. Unfortunately, I didn’t think to practice a lot of brewing over the summer, I just dove into theory. And the class so far has been all about brewing, it seems likely that the exams will be making a brew from memory and I’m not sure if I could do that yet.” He smiled wryly as he spoke.

  
“Ah I see the trouble. The year end exam under Severus is indeed to brew something from memory. However if you can pass a written exam on theory and brew something complex for me, correctly with the recipe, I’ll let you out of the class.”

  
Harry brightened and sat up straight for the first time since entering the office. “Really sir, that would be great, thank you sir.”

  
“You’re welcome mister Potter, it will take me a little time to put together those tests. Come see me Saturday morning and we’ll see about those. In the meantime you had one other question?”

  
“Right, yes,” he fumbled in his bag for a moment to pull out his notebook. “Sorry I’m a little excited now. Umm,” he flipped through the pages and found the question he was thinking of and grabbed a pen to jot down the professors answers. “Okay, so I noticed a weirdness about spell incantations. Most are in a kind of faux latin, but there some in a sort of spanish or french, one I found for navigating is actually in english. And then I got to thinking about it and realized that there are cultures that would not have heard of latin until recently so they couldn’t have done their incantations that way. And if there were a magical language” he drew air quotes around magical, “than it would be the first thing any student would be required to learn. Since such a thing isn’t on the course list I can only assume it doesn’t exist. So my question is, how does the choice of language for an incantation effect the spell?”

  
“Ah, now that’s an advanced question. Most students don’t notice that until fifth or sixth year. It’s a fairly simple one though, I wonder if you can figure it out for yourself. Not everyone can, so don’t worry if you don’t get it. What three things do you need in order to fully realize a spell, it’s in your text.”

  
Harry sat and thought hard for a moment, he had read that just a few days ago he was sure. “You have to see what you want to happen, in your head, I mean, that’s the same for any spell. You have to want the spell to work, that’s the same too. Oh and magic, you have to give the spell the energy it needs to become real. Is it really just those three things?”

  
“Absolutely right. Yes that is all you need. The visualization of the spell, the intent to cast the spell, and the energy to make the spell work. Everything else is just help. Your wand amplifies your magic, making it easier to push the amount of energy you need into the spell, the words help with visualization as you link them to what you want, and the wand movements help with intent. It’s all a crutch really, the best wizards always learn to cast without one or more of the crutches in order to speed up their casting. With practice any wand movement can serve to formalize your intent. All spells are cast in your mind, so the incantations are unnecessary they simply help, so any language can be used, or no language at all. Even the wand is not needed with enough practice. Although that is the most difficult crutch to lose. There are a lot of people who claim that only really powerful wizards can do wandless magic. In a way they are right, in order to do it you have to get really good at applying the energy you need without the assistance of a wand. However consider the accidental magic you did as a child. Were you really powerful then? Did you have a wand?”

  
Flitwick held out his hand towards one of the bookshelves and a tome flew off the top shelf to him. Handing the book to Harry he continued, “here read through this. It’s on deep theory of spell creation, I expect I’ll enjoy chatting with you about it when you’ve finished. Now unfortunately my time is up, I need to get to class. I’ll see you Saturday about testing out of a few classes. With three it will likely take a few hours so come ready, right after breakfast.”

  
“Thank you professor, I’ll try to finish this by Saturday.”

“Well mister Potter,” Madam Pomfrey’s voice was rather matronly. “I can’t find any allergies, however I’m surprised you don’t get more headaches. You are in need of glasses, and given these readings, I’d say you have been for some time.”

  
Glasses, Harry had wondered a few times if he had needed them. But he’d never been allowed to go to the optometrist to find out. Maybe aunt Petunia would have taken him if he hadn’t run away so much. “Okay, do you have any here? Or do I need to go somewhere?”

  
“I can manage something here, though I have a very limited selection of frames.” She waved her wand and a tray flew out of a cabinet.

The tray held four styles of eyeglass frames. “Like I said, limited. However you will have the opportunity to select a new style of frame later. I am not a professional eye healer. You will want to visit either St. Mungo's hospital for magical maladies, and ailments, or madam Oculus' eyecare studio in diagon alley when you get the chance.”

  
Harry paused in his inspection of the frames to look up. Do they have a way to fix my eyes so I won’t need glasses? It would be so much easier if I don’t have to worry about taking care of these.” He motioned to the glasses. “Or have to worry about losing them.”

  
“They may have, however it would be very expensive. You’ll have to ask when you can.”

  
“I will do that, thank you ma’am. These will do until then.” He held up a simple frame designed for round lenses.

  
“Very well, hold still.” She placed two pieces of glass into the frames and waved her wand over them until they fit into place. Placing the glasses on Harry’s face she waved her wand again. A moment later he noticed that the sign on the opposite wall from him had become more clear.

  
“Wow, that makes a huge difference.”

  
“Ah good.” She lowered her wand. “That won’t be perfect, as I said, I am not a professional. However it should make classes easier. I will try to arrange a visit to either st. Mungos or madam Occulos as soon as possible.”

  
“Thank you, Madam Pomfrey. This will definitely make a difference. I won’t have to squint at the board so much.”

  
“I’m glad I could help Potter. Now since you’re here, there are a few diagnostics that I try to cast on everyone in their first year.” She smiled briefly and motioned to a bed. “Have a seat.”

  
Hopping up onto the bed Harry wondered what exactly she was going to do. The books on healing magic he had picked up had mentioned diagnostic spells, but hadn’t actually included them. So he watched her closely.

  
Waving her wand and muttering softly Madam Pomfrey cast several diagnostics and ran through the findings. “Well, you are healthier than the last time you were here.” She smiled gently. “But then the last time you were here, you were only a baby, and had just been through something traumatic. Still, you have some malnutrition, and it looks like a couple of bones have healed improperly. I can fix that up overnight. The malnutrition will take a few weeks to completely correct, but you won’t have to stay here for that. Alright, into the bed with you. You’ll find some spare pajamas in that cupboard. Get changed.” She motioned to a cupboard next to the bed then waved her wand to raise curtains around the bed.

  
“Umm, ma’am?”

  
“None of that mister Potter.” She cut him off. “You’ll need to stay here overnight to allow the bones to regrow properly. I’ll not have students in the school with improper bones when I have something to say about it. Now into pajamas and into bed.”

  
Not wanting to argue with the formidable looking woman Harry jumped to do her bidding. The bed was warm and comfortable despite its appearance and even with the tingling from the skele-gro he was soon drifting off to sleep.

Saturday had come quickly Harry thought to himself as he left breakfast and headed for Flitwick’s office. He had warned Hermione that he had an appointment for today and that he wouldn’t be able to meet her in the library until after lunch at the earliest. Owing to the book being fairly short he had managed to read through it twice and make notes. It was little more than a set of musings on the process of spell creation, which really came down to just a few simple steps. First you had to decide what you wanted the spell to do and create a mental picture of that, this was the visualization. Then you had to figure out an incantation, a word or set of words that linked to your visualization. Then alter the word or words so they would link to your concept of magic such that when you spoke the incantation it would produce a “pull” on both your visualization and your magic. Thus why so many spells used an incantation in faux latin, latin was the language of scholars for centuries. Next you had to decide on a wand movement that linked in your head to your desire to cast the spell so as to more easily formalize your intent. Once all that was done you just had to practice until you figured out how much energy to push into the spell in order to fully actualize it.

  
He of course had decided to try his hand at it already, and after some thought decided that a spell to produce a small ball of fire either to use as a light source or to light a campfire would be really useful. With that in mind he sorted through his encyclopedia and thesaurus until he found a word he liked for the effect, ignite. Then he scratched his head for a bit contemplating how to alter it to connect to his magic and finally settled on ignitus. The wand movement was much easier as he wanted something simple and easy to aim, so he decided on a thrust forward towards wherever he wanted the fire to go. He hadn’t quite gotten the amount of magic needed right though. He had been trying to guess at it with small amounts, since he didn’t want to accidentally set his study space on fire. Putting too much energy into the spell would result in a larger effect than what he wanted. While too little energy resulted in little more than a candle spark that barely lit up anything.

Flitwick welcomed Harry into the office with a smile. “Come in, would you like some tea?” He offered up the pot and a tray of fixings. Harry sat down and accepted the tea smiling.

  
“Good morning professor. I finished the book.” He said as he placed the book on the table. “It was fascinating.”

  
“Ah, well done. And have you tried your hand at inventing yet.” There was a glint in the tiny professors eye that Harry took to mean that the professor thought he had done so.

  
“Umm, yes sir. Sort of, I haven’t figured out how much energy to put into it yet. I was worried about causing damage. I thought of a spell to light a campfire you see.”

  
“Ah yes that would be a bad idea to try in the library. Well I have a fireplace here, go ahead and try it.” He pointed to the fireplace which was made of stone and quite deep. Harry mentally agreed that it would probably be safe to test his spell in it.

  
“Okay, umm…” He took a moment to find his mental image of a small ball of fire and formed his intent to throw that ball into the fireplace. Finally he raised his wand jabbed it at the small pile of wood and said in a clear voice, “Ignitus.” Pushing more magic than he had previously dared into the spell. Much to his delight a little ball of cheerily dancing flames flew out of his wand and lit the kindling.

  
Flitwick jumped up and clapped exclaiming, “well done mister Potter, well done indeed. Ten points to Ravenclaw. That was highly impressive for a first year student. I believe you have a future in spell creation if you want. I did say I would enjoy chatting with you about what you learned, however let’s do that a little later. I believe you are likely more interested in discovering if you will be able to drop a class or two. Am I right?”

  
“Umm, yes sir, that would be correct. Although I would enjoy discussing the book some more later.”

  
“Excellent, let’s get started then. Normally you wouldn’t be allowed to have a drink while testing, but we’ll keep that our little secret. Here, let’s start with history. A fairly simple written exam to see if you know some of the more important events.”

  
For the next hour Harry wrote out everything he could recall from his books about the founding of the ministry of magic, the role of family magic in Britain, and the founding of Gringotts. Which were apparently the most important events of the last few centuries. He was surprised really as none of these things had been covered at all in Bin’s class.

  
When he was finished he asked, “professor, can I keep of copy of this? Professor Bins didn’t cover any of this stuff. It’s all in the books of course, but I wonder if anyone else even thinks to study it, and I think Hermione would really appreciate the nudge.”

  
“Sure, here give me a minute.” After he finished grading the exam he tapped it with his wand then tapped a second parchment and a copy of the first appeared on the second. “Here you are.”

  
Harry looked it over and noted that he had only made a few errors, mostly in spelling.

  
“So, does this mean?”

  
“Why yes, I think it does mister Potter. You have demonstrated that the classroom is of little use to you. I will allow you to drop the class time. Shall we move on to the next one? Would you prefer to do defence or potions next?”

  
“Hmm, I think defence next if that’s okay sir.”

  
“Absolutely, two parts for these, written and practical. Here start with the written.”

  
Another hour spent answering questions, this time about how best to deal with household pests, and what kind of spells to use against someone trying to hurt you or your friends. Harry found these to be simple and easy things as they had been both among the first things he had studied and what he had reread through most. Wanting to avoid or deal with bullies as quickly as possible he had decided that learning the spells most directly beneficial for fighting off such problems or getting away from them would be the most helpful.

  
Again Flitwick graded and copied the exam for him and this time there were no mistakes. “Excellent work mister Potter, very well done. Now for the practical come over here and we’ll have you demonstrate competence with the spells.

  
Twenty minutes later Harry was feeling wrung out, he had cast every jinx, hex and curse he had learned, and even a few charms that Flitwick had recommended as being useful in defence.

  
“Again, well done mister Potter, a little work on a few of those would be a good idea, however overall I am quite pleased. In a few years I might even introduce you to the junior dueling circuit if you keep this up.”

  
“Dueling circuit sir?”

  
“Why yes, there are three dueling circuits, junior, amateur and professional. I held the top rank in the professional circuit before I retired to teach. Great fun it is, and good for the reflexes. I highly recommend spending some time with them. The junior circuit only runs during the summer so as not to interfere with school. If you decide you’re interested I might teach you a bit. However that will have to wait until next term at least. I’ll give you another exam after winter break, if you pass that one as well we’ll talk about some dueling lessons.” The professor was smiling like Hermione did whenever she got a spell right on the first try. Harry found it infectious and was smiling almost as broadly.

  
“Thank you sir, I’ll be sure to study hard.” Harry felt like a fire had been lit inside his chest. His professor thought he had done well on his exam, and wanted to offer him extra lessons not usually taught at Hogwarts. His professor must think he had potential, that he, Harry could be worthwhile. Before he could tear up he decided to change the subject. “Thank you sir, that means a lot. Shall we do the potions exam then.” And even with the shift to his least favorite class he couldn’t stop smiling.

  
“Yes let’s do that. Once more written then practical. I have the single most complicated potion a first year is expected to brew before winter break for you to attempt today. It will take a little over an hour. With the hour you have for the written portion that should take us to lunch time.”

  
Harry nodded briefly and readied himself for the exam.

  
Two hours later his hair was even more wild than usual and he was feeling like a nap would serve him well. However he felt accomplished and there was a gleam in his eyes. The written part was just as difficult as he had expected, wringing every bit of knowledge he had stored up out of him. The brewing on the other hand had turned out to be easy. The potion, which was used to soothe burns was one he had made a couple of times over the summer thinking that it would be a good one to keep on hand just in case. And here in a more sedate setting without the worry of being found or Snape leaning over him at awkward times to rant about how meaningless his efforts were, he was able to concentrate properly. So while the potion was fiddly he was able to produce it without trouble.

  
A few moments later Flitwick pronounced both his written work and his potion passing. Though he did comment that Harry would need to study hard and practice often if he wanted to continue to test out of potions.

  
It was indeed time for lunch so the two headed for the great hall together beginning their discussion of the process of inventing new spells. This included a comment from professor Flitwick which Harry found rather curious, in part because it was the first time the professor had called him by his first name. “I almost forgot Harry, it is important that you do not reveal to anyone else that you are experimenting with inventing spells. The ministry disapproves of anyone doing so without their permission and oversight. Or so they say, I believe it is more complicated than that, but that’s a discussion for another time.” Try as he might Harry was unable to get the professor to say more on the subject.

  
Harry was so engrossed in the discussion that he almost forgot that teachers didn’t sit with students normally and only just remembered in time to not embarrass himself by inviting the professor to join him at the house table.

A frowning Hermione met him at the library and dragged him into an empty classroom. “So are you abandoning your classes?” She started looking like she wanted to tear him into little pieces.

  
Harry smiled sheepishly and reached into his bag. Holding out the test pages he offered, “here, see for yourself.”

  
Hermione’s frown deepened as she accepted the pages and began reading. “It looks like you only just passed the potions exam.”

  
“Yeah, that was my worst one. Flitwick said I’d have to work hard to keep up.”

  
“Professor Flitwick Harry, and does that mean you didn’t get out of the class?”

  
“No, I’m free of Snape, at least until after winter break.”

  
Hermione sniffed. “What happens after Christmas I wonder?”

  
“The new term begins. I’ll have to pass the end of year exams to continue skipping class.”

  
“Hmph.” Hermione seemed a bit put out by that statement but turned to the next exam. “Well at least you did well on the defence exam. Actually really well. Did you have to show that you can cast all these spells?”

  
“Yeah, that was tiring, fun though. Flitwick set up a bunch of dummies in an empty room and I had to cast each spell on a different dummy. I was really tired when I finished but he said I got them all perfect. Then he said I should consider joining the dueling circuit and offered to train me for it if I keep studying hard.”

  
Hermione looked torn between continuing to argue about dropping the class and congratulating him on the accomplishment for a long minute before congratulations won out. “Oh, wow Harry that’s incredible. I haven’t learned all these spells yet, and he thinks you could be good enough to duel on the circuit. I’ve read a little about those circuits and they get really competitive. You really have to be very good to get on a team, let alone actually get ranked. I hope you make it, maybe you could help me practice some of these, it might help you get better too.”

  
“Sure, there are plenty of open rooms so we can find a place to work on spells. Whenever you want is fine with me.”

  
“Okay, last one is history right?” She turned to the last test and began reading it over.

  
“Yep, what do you think?”

  
“Umm, harry are you sure he gave you the right test? Professor Bins hasn’t covered any of this stuff.” She looked up, confusion in her eyes.

  
“Yeah I asked about that, it’s all in the book and was interesting enough that I had read it. Like you said though, Bins hasn’t covered any of it. Flitwick said that this is an official end of term exam for first year and has been for years. I guess Bins will cover it a little later. I asked for a copy of the exam so you could get an idea of what to study outside of class though, just in case.”

  
Suddenly a tearful Hermione wrapped around him again. “Thank you Harry, that’s so thoughtful. I’d never have known. I’ve read the whole book of course, but most people don’t bother. Now I can warn my housemates. You might want to do that as well.” She dried her eyes as she pulled away from him, smiling.”

  
“They already know. There’s a regular trade in Ravenclaw of old tests. Bins hasn’t changed his end of term, or end of year exams since he died. Copies of them are available to any student in the tower who wants. Makes it a lot easier to figure what to study up on or practice a lot of.”

  
“But, that’s cheating.”

  
“Nah, there is no cheating in learning. It’s a matter of figuring out what you want to study. If a subject is of little interest to you than finding out what you need to get by is made easy, leaving you free to study those topics you really want. It’s a shortcut, not a cheat. Cheating is getting someone else to take the exam for you, or using a quill enchanted with all the answers. And really you’re cheating yourself more than anyone else if you do that. Anyone who gets a position like that isn’t really going to know what to do, and will be caught out easily enough. Then they really get in trouble.”

  
“I guess you’re right, it still doesn’t seem very proper though.”

  
“Not really, but then I’m not all that concerned with being proper. If I were, I wouldn’t be here.”

  
Hermione made a squeaky kind of sound somewhere between an “oh” and a “hmph” and turned a menacing look on the messy haired boy. “And what is that supposed to mean? There is nothing wrong with being magical. I happen to think it is quite wonderful.”

  
“Oh I agree, my aunt and uncle on the other hand. They think that it’s the most dreadful thing ever. They also think that the proper place for me to be is under their heels. Cooking their dinner, washing their dishes, weeding their garden, and so on. If they had their way I wouldn’t be here because they wanted me to stay in the cupboard and continue to be their slave. Not sure why, but someone wanted me here enough to force them to accept it. Probably something to do with being the “boy who lived.” He knew the moment he stopped that he had said too much.

  
“They made you do all that?” Hermione's voice was small and quiet, Harry could only hear her because the room was cut off from the hubbub of the school.

  
“Oh, don’t be like that. It was horrible yes, and I want to get away from it. Unfortunately I can’t, not yet anyway. Don’t worry about it.” He tried to make his voice as reassuring as he could, but wasn’t sure if he had quite gotten the effect he wanted.

  
“But Harry…” Hermione’s voice was hard, and a little cold. Clearly he had not reassured her enough.

  
“No Hermione, that’s not something I want to talk about right now.” He knew he had to cut off this line of questions quickly. If she continued down that road she would eventually get to telling one of the teachers and that would lead to all new problems. Fortunately this time there was something in his eyes Hermione hadn’t seen before and she backed down. He wished he had a mirror so he could see what he looked like in that moment, it would be good to be able to do that whenever he needed.

  
“Okay, but later we need to talk about it. I’ll drop it for now though. So what are you going to do with your free time now that you don’t have to go to three of your classes?”

  
Harry narrowed his eyes at her for a moment but was soon smiling again when she showed no sign of continuing with the unwanted topic. “Well mostly I’ll continue studying. I was thinking I could use some of that time to learn a bit about the optional classes we’ll be able to start in our third year. I want to figure out which ones will help me most with what I want to do after school.”

  
“You already know what career you want? Wow Harry, I haven’t even started thinking about that yet.”

  
“Well, no I haven’t decided on a career yet. Though I guess learning about the options would be a good idea. I did learn over the summer that my family have been known as craftsmen for a long time. Potions masters, enchanters and the like, so I figured I’d look into what those require and if they would be something I would be interested in.”

  
“Wow, that’s cool. I wish I had a family legacy to follow. But I guess I’ll just have to start my own legacy.” She smiled as she spoke, seeming to be lost for a moment in the idea of building a legacy for herself. “Okay, well let’s get to the library and learn how to do that.”  
Smiling the two made their way back to the library to settle in for a long afternoon with books.

The next afternoon found Harry on a school broom enjoying a bit of flying while he considered what to do first. He’d discovered during his first flying lesson that he really liked it. The simple joy of swooping through the air and the adrenaline of pushing the broom to its top speed, wind whipping through his hair was both exhilarating and relaxing. Plus it cleared his mind which in turn allowed him to think more clearly, and today he was using that benefit to put together a plan of action for what order he wanted to study in, when he was going to finish exploring the castle, or more specifically when he was going to check out the third floor. And finally what he was going to do about getting away from the Dursley’s next summer. He had no doubt that something would force him to return there, but he had no intention of staying.

  
It didn’t take him long to decide on an order of activity and soon enough he was headed back to his personal library to hit the books.

“Holy shit, they must be insane.” Harry was dripping with sweat and a little wild eyed when he ran into the tower room he shared with four other boys a few days later. Fortunately the room was empty for the moment. Tearing off his soaked robes he headed for the showers. “Completely insane, and in a school. What the hell was that thing?”

  
Grabbing a change of clothes he headed for the showers. The water rushing over his skin slowly brought his breathing back down to a normal level as visions of three headed dogs charged through his head. But it took sitting down with a book to get his heart to slow down.

  
A few hours later in the Hogwarts library he finally found what he was looking for. Cerberus, greek origins, often used to protect the entrance to a labyrinth or vault, or sometimes just a treasure chamber. Legendarily the guard at the gates of the underworld. Extremely vicious, almost constantly hungry, and nearly impossible to drive away from their appointed tasks. Magically resistant, their hide is highly prized by certain clothiers as it is fairly easy to work with, and extremely durable.

  
“Okay, so how do I get past it?’ He asked himself in the privacy of his personal study room. “Hard to drive off. That’s no help. Hmm, almost constantly hungry. What if I take it a couple steaks soaked in sleeping potion? If it eats them, and the potion works. What about the trap door though. Are there stairs? Is it a straight drop? I’ll need to find out. I should get some rope though just in case. Okay, where did I put that catalog from the camp store.”

“What the fuck!” A few days later Harry’s voice once again punctuated the air as he read the first page of his book on ancient runes. He had just read a passage explaining the use of ancient runes in magical work. Runes are used in efforts to enchant objects such as brooms, and to erect security wards around a home. An understanding of runes will therefore allow a witch or wizard to follow in the footsteps of great enchanters to produce magical marvels, or to join the ranks of the ministry ward masters in protecting the homes of our great people.

  
“Wards, used for protecting a home, and enchanting things. So basically to set up a magical effect that will last a long time. That must be how I’m constantly being forced back to the Dursleys. And if runes are how they are set up, then understanding them would also be the way to take them down.” With that thought running through his head doing a happy dance he gave the book his full attention.

“What the hell!” This time Harry was in his brewing room, preparing to make the sleeping draught he would use to drug the cerberus. He had brought his radio with him so he could listen to some music while he worked. However the radio was refusing to work. It didn’t spark or spit, nor did it play static, it simply did nothing. After several minutes of fiddling with it he gave up and reprimanded himself for only bringing the one. Now he was without music for the rest of the year.

  
Until he got back to his room and took the radio back into his library. As soon as it crossed into the study room it started working again. After some experimentation carrying it into and out of the trunk he determined that something about Hogwarts prevented it from working.

  
When he asked professor Flitwick about the problem the next day he learned that there was a ward placed around Hogwarts years ago to protect the school from a possible muggle missile strike which had the side effect of preventing most muggle technology based on electronics from working properly.

  
After a quick explanation of what a radio does, apparently the tiny wizard had never heard of one, although the wizarding world had something called the wizarding wireless network which worked the same way. The professor cheerily agreed to assist with a project to create a magical recording device that Harry could use to carry his favorite music around the castle with him. Although Harry had to agree not to use it in class or the library, or anywhere else that it might interfere with another students studies.

Near the end of October he finally had everything he could think of that he would need for his trip down the trapdoor. He picked a night when he knew his housemates wouldn’t notice his absence. Their first quidditch match, which they had won, against Hufflepuff. Most of the house was engaged in a party, while the rest had simply gone to bed. By leaving the curtains drawn on his bed he gave the appearance of having gone to bed early if anyone checked, and slipping out was simple enough.

  
The trip to the third floor corridor was nerve wracking, checking around each corner for patrolling professors, prefects, and Filch. Plus Mrs. Norris, Filch’s cat who seemed somehow to telepathically communicate with Filch whenever she found a student. Honestly he thought to himself halfway to the door, maybe I should get some tuna and soak it in the sleep potion as well.

  
Finally he made it to his goal.


	7. Chapter 7

The door opened with a quiet squeak on its ancient hinges and the dog roused from its nap. Before it could focus on him, the little green eyed devil threw a pair of steaks that he had grabbed at dinner and soaked in the sleeping draft to a pair of its heads. Catching the scent of the meat the dog quickly attacked the offering and was soon snoring away again.

  
“Phew,” Harry let out a breath he hadn’t known he’d been holding.

  
Tying the rope that had finally come in with the morning post a few days ago to an iron ring on the wall he opened the trap door and dropped the rope down the hole. Before he climbed down he decided to send a few floating fireballs down to light his way. This turned out to be a very good idea, when he got to the bottom he found that the room was full of tentacular plants writhing away from the light.

  
“Wow, that would have sucked.” He whispered, “glad I thought ahead.”

  
Moving forward he found a room full of glittering insects flying around. The buzzing of their wings filled his head and he instinctively ducked. When they hadn’t bothered him after a few moments he looked cautiously around and realized they weren’t insects but rather flying keys, dozens of them. On the other side of the room was a solid wooden door with an antique style silver lock. Peering through the clouds of keys he noticed one fat silver key that looked like it would fit in the lock. A pair of brooms leaning against one wall gave him an idea of what to do, but just in case he decided to try something else first.

  
He pulled a bobby pin from a pocket and stuck it in the key hole. A few minutes of jiggling the pin around later and there was a satisfying click and the door opened. “Huh, it worked. I didn’t actually think it would.” He pondered if it was a good sign that he was talking to himself for a moment. “Nah, I’m good. It’s when you start answering yourself that's when you’re in trouble.” Pocketing the pin he moved to the next room.

  
This room was completely confusing. On the floor was laid out an enormous checkerboard, but instead of checkers there were a bunch of figures with odd shapes. The horses he could recognize and the tower looking things, but the rest he had no idea what they were. Scratching his head he tried to walk around the figures but when he got to the other side there was a door that wouldn’t open no matter what he did. Eventually he decided that the key to opening this door was to do something with the figures. He walked over to one of the white horses which were closest to him, but when he reached out and touched it the figure turned its head and looked at him. He backed away slowly and noticed that the other figures with recognizable faces were also looking at him. One of the two in the middle on the back row raised its hand and pointed to the other side of the board, towards the black figures.

  
“Oh, am I supposed to work with them?” He wondered out loud, and the figure with its hand raised nodded. “Oh, okay.” He quickly made his way back over to the black pieces and again touched one of the horses. This time it nodded and walked off the board. Now even more confused he looked across at the white figures as one of them moved forward. “Oh crap, I think I’m playing a game I don’t know how to play. I don’t suppose one of you can at least tell me the rules?” He spoke to the figures near him.

  
The one on his left turned, shook its head and spoke. “I can instruct you young one, but you were foolish to accept the challenge.”

  
A few minutes later Harry felt like he was going to pass out. Apparently he was about to play a very violent game of chess for the first time ever, and if he tried to just leave the figures would attack. If he lost the game the figures would attack him, and if he didn’t keep himself safe during the game the figures would attack him. If he ever had to do this again he was taking the place of the king, since if that piece was attacked the game was over anyway.

  
Forty minutes later he was once again overly soaked in sweat, his heart pounding out of his chest and somehow he had won his first ever game of chess. He decided it was beginners luck and that he wasn’t going to think about it any more tonight. The next room made him want to cry. There was a creature shaped mostly like a person, except it was around fifteen feet tall and was dragging around an enormous wooden club. On a string around its neck was an iron key which was most likely what he needed to unlock the next door.

  
Okay, how do I deal with this he thought. There didn’t seem to be anything in the room that would help. He had the mister bottle full of draft of living death. It only needed a few drops to work, and worked fast. However it had a really short range. He would need to get up close to its face for it to work. Not only was he too short to do that with any degree of ease, there was nothing in the room for him to climb on. The only way he could see to get close enough was to climb the creature, and he doubted the thing would just stand still and let him.

  
Eventually he realized he was going to have to accept defeat. The dog wouldn’t stay asleep forever and he had no way of knowing how often anyone else checked on these traps.

  
The trip back was almost as nerve wracking as the trip in, even if it was a lot shorter. The giant chess set was back to its original condition already, though it thankfully didn’t move as he made his way around it. The flying keys however seemed upset that he had managed to bypass them and dived at him as he ran across the room. Halfway up the rope he finally released the fireballs and the plant chased him back up to the trap door. Fortunately the dog was still asleep and he passed through its room without harassment.

  
Unfortunately he was caught by a prefect on the way back to the tower and got himself a detention for being out after curfew.

The morning of Halloween brought his first encounter with Draco Malfoy since the train. The blonde haired boy was waiting outside the great hall, still flanked by the same pair of muscle heads he had with him on the train. This time though the fourth boy with them was a dark skinned boy Harry vaguely recognized from the sorting as Blaise Zabini.

  
“Potter, I felt I should extend my condolences for your loss today. The death of your parents was felt by everyone in the wizarding world.” The skinny blonde held out his hand.

  
“Malfoy, we met on the train. You might recall that meeting. You called me a mudblood and proclaimed yourself better than anyone due to your parents inbreeding. You might want to think about who you are approaching before offering your hand. Your family stole from mine, then helped kill my parents. Go ahead deny it.” Malfoy had opened his mouth clearly about to protest the statement. “If your parents were really innocent they would have returned my property the moment they were free of the psychopaths control. They did not, thus they are guilty in my eyes and will be until they return what's mine. And yes I do have a complete list of everything they stole.”

  
Malfoy grew more and more red as Harry spoke and when he finished Malfoy looked like he was about to explode. Drawing his wand he declared, “I challenge you Potter, to a wizard's duel for your insults. Midnight tonight in the trophy room.”

  
Several students nearby stopped and paid attention at these words, and before Harry could respond a voice carried across the crowd.  
“What is going on here?” Flowing black robes preceded the long nose and greasy hair of professor Snape into the middle of the crowd where he looked coldly at the five boys at the center of the knot of people. “Ah, Potter, I might have guessed you’d be involved. What kind of trouble are you causing now?”

  
“Hello professor,” Harry said brightly. “Good timing, Malfoy here has just challenged me to a wizard's duel, at midnight in the trophy room. Obviously the time is against the rules so I am unable to accept that, however I am unfamiliar with duels in general. I would appreciate some advice on how to respond in an appropriate manner. If you would be so kind.”

  
Snape glared down at the obnoxious child wanting so very much to cut him down. Unfortunately the idiot boy had given him nothing to work with. He was speaking respectfully, and he had phrased his question correctly. Worst of all the Malfoy moron was actually pointing his wand at the boy in the hall in front of a professor of all things. “You simply say no Potter. Now move along, there are people who would like to get to their breakfast.” And with those parting words he swept past them into the great hall.

  
“Well, that makes it easier. No Malfoy.” And he too turned and strode into breakfast.

After breakfast Harry sought out professor Flitwick to ask about the challenge and what to do should it happen again.

  
“Ah, come in mister Potter how are you today? Oh dear me, how rude. Of course today is a sad day for you, my apologies. Please sit, would you like some tea?” While the miniature professor had a smile on his face when he welcomed Harry into his office it quickly fell into a concerned look as he spoke.

  
“Professor? Why would today be a sad day?”

  
“You don’t know. Oh my, Harry today is the anniversary of your parents deaths. I am sorry you had to learn of it like this though. I had thought you knew.”

  
A stunned Harry merely sat, mouth agape staring at the tiny man.

  
Pressing a steaming cup of tea into the young wizards hands the old professor spoke quietly. “They were good people who fought for what they believed in. I knew them only briefly as students. I began teaching here in their fifth year, and so didn’t have the time to get to know them that Minerva and Hagrid did. Your mother was an impressive young woman. She finished her NEWT in charms with an O+. A difficult achievement. I regret for your sake that I know little else of her as a person. Your father favored transfiguration, he only managed an E at NEWT level in charms. I’m not sure what his final grade was in transfiguration, I imagine Minerva would though if you wanted to ask her.”

  
Finally calming enough to take a sip of the hot tea and get himself back together, Harry turned watery eyes to his professor. “Thank you sir, no one I’ve spoken to has told me even that much about them. Hagrid was full of praise for their goodness, but he didn’t share anything about who they were. I would love to ask, umm Minerva, except I don’t know who that is.”

  
“Oh dear me, how silly. Professor Mcgonagall. She likely knows a great deal more than I do. She was their head of house after all.” He patted the boys hand gently before returning to his seat. “Now, since that was news to you I expect you had a different reason for today's visit. What can I do for you mister Potter?”

  
“Umm, why did I come to see you. Oh right, Malfoy.” And he told the whole story of his encounter that morning, he left nothing out so as to be sure to get the information he needed.

  
“Well, the boy is certainly a fool, and Severus should have given the boy a detention at least. But that’s neither here nor there. Honor duels such as the one mister Malfoy challenged you to are no longer recognized. Certainly as recently as eighty years ago the insult you gave him would have been settled in just that way. However the practice was ended, although there are rumours that some of the older families still practice the tradition between themselves. Should this ever happen again you would be best served either by declining the challenge, or if you like, stating that you will accept only on the grounds that the duel take place before an audience and with the oversight of a professor. In the case of mister Malfoy I would recommend against having Professor Snape oversee the event. This will tell you if the challenge was meant seriously or not. Most people will quickly drop the challenge in such cases, especially if they originally wanted to fight in a position which would get any attendees in trouble. Such as having the duel take place somewhere out of bounds for students. If you are planning to take part in a duel though, I would recommend waiting until after you have learned at least the basics. I am still willing to do that, however you really do need a slightly larger spell repertoire before you begin.” He smiled gently as he continued. “If that answers your question, I’m afraid it is almost time for my first class. Gryffindor and Hufflepuff first years. Always fun.” He grinned broadly and winked.

  
Harry laughed, “thank you sir. That was helpful. I’ll keep up the study don’t worry.”

Harry was barely able to pay attention in his classes that day, he was caught up in thinking about his parents and how different his life might have been if they had lived. When it came time for the feast he felt separated from himself and couldn’t imagine having an appetite. So he skipped the feast in favor of wandering the halls.

  
When he heard a large number of people moving through the halls he figured the feast must have ended. Not feeling like being around people though he moved away from the crowd and continued his meandering.

  
He made it only a short way before he ran into a wall of stench. A smell so horrid he could feel it trying to peel his hair off. At the end of the hall he saw another of those over sized things dragging a huge wooden club. A troll he thought, finally having identified the creature.

This one was smaller than the one in the corridor though. And even better it was squeezing itself through a door and hadn’t noticed him.

Turning to book it away from the area he froze as a shriek of terror rushed down the hall and grabbed him. Before he realized what he was doing he was halfway down the hall moving faster than he could remember having ever moved before even counting his time on a broom. Despite moving so fast he had time enough to question his own sanity at running towards a clearly dangerous situation.

  
He burst through the door to see a pale and frightened Hermione crouched in a corner, the troll standing over her, it’s club raised high about to crush her into jelly.

  
Before he could stop to think Harry had raised his wand and shouted at the top of his voice, “Ignitus!” A frankly astounding fireball roared out of his wand and across the room slamming into the back of the creatures head. Which apparently did nothing more than annoy it as the thing merely shook its head before lumbering around to see what had caused the irritation. A moment later the club was whistling through the air towards Harry who had suddenly gone very cold, as though someone had dumped a bucket of ice water down his back.


	8. Chapter 8

The cold floor slapped hard against his shoulder when he dove to the side to avoid the crushing blow that threatened to end his efforts to win his freedom. Small chips of the marble tiles which had been rendered into powder by the swing of the tree that the troll was using like a wiffle bat were flung against him and he covered his head to protect himself. A moment later he was on his feet and moving as the creature bellowed its fury at having missed its target.

  
Once more the massive club was singing through the air and once again Harry was diving to avoid it. Damn that floor’s hard, he thought as he rolled and came back up. “Diffindo!” He cried aiming the cutting curse towards the creatures eyes. Unfortunately the troll turned at the last moment, the spell slapped against the side of its head. A small gash appeared at the top of its ear causing it to stop and slap its free hand to the wound and grunt in displeasure.

  
“Oh shit,” the troll was now focused on him, and there was a look of utter hatred in its eyes. He ran to the side throwing out a jelly legs jinx hoping to slow the giant down. Either he missed or it did nothing, Harry wasn’t sure which. His strangled brain was having trouble recalling all the spells he’d been practicing. The ones he could think of didn’t seem like they would help at all. The thing had ignored everything that hit it directly. Maybe something that affected things around it would work, except Harry hadn’t learned any of those spells yet.

  
It came to him as he dove out of the way of another swing of the club that plowed through the stalls. If he needed a spell he didn’t know, he would just have to create one. No time for anything complex, gotta keep it simple. What felt like days later but was probably less than a minute he pointed his wand at the floor and yelled “Freegus!” The water pouring from the broken pipes froze over, wrapping up the legs of the troll and holding it in place. Harry however only barely noticed this, he had poured so much energy into the spell that he collapsed and was only just managing to keep his eyes open. There was a burst of red light from behind the creature, a group of people had entered the room and the troll was now trying to turn towards them.

  
Turning his head towards Hermione who was somehow still crouched in the same corner, eyes wide but unhurt, he slurred out “help is here, we’re safe now.” And finally let go.

A soft pillow was under his head, a clean smell of potions tickled his nose. There was a sense of someone near his head that felt comforting. That was wrong somehow, someone near his head when he was unable to defend himself, able to do him harm. That thought brought him back to full awareness and he could hear soft voices somewhere off to his left. He opened his eyes to find out who was near him. Hedwig peered down at him from her perch on the headboard. She blinked at him and barked. Reaching up to stroke her feathers he smiled, “morning girl, did I worry you? How long have I been out?”

  
“Only a few hours, you were brought in last night. Do you know where you are?”

  
Harry was startled as he realized that someone had gotten close enough to speak softly without his noticing. He must not have completely recovered yet. Madam Pomfrey was looking down at him with her usual severe look. “I’d guess the hospital wing madam Pomfrey.” He discovered that speaking made his head throb and stopped.

  
“Very good mister Potter. You came in last night with severe magical exhaustion. You should be alright now that you’re awake, but stay there for a little bit longer to be sure. I’ll run a last diagnostic in a few minutes.”

  
“Good morning mister Potter, how are you feeling?” The squeaky voice of professor Flitwick sounded from the side of the bed. He was hopping up onto a stool so as to get a better look at Harry.

  
“Good morning professor, I’m a little fuzzy around the edges, and my head is throbbing.” He tried a weak smile. “So nothing too terrible I guess.”

  
“Oh my,” Madam Pomfrey waved her wand. Yes slight dehydration. Common enough side effect of magical exhaustion. Here drink this.” She handed over a small green potion which Harry drank down. Surprisingly, it tasted very slightly of cherries, most potions tasted rather horrible. A moment later his head was back to normal though.

  
“Wow, thanks Madam Pomfrey. That didn’t taste like most potions though?”

  
“You are quite welcome mister Potter. The anti-dehydration draft is an odd mix. Though it is recommended to avoid excessive use. There can be some very nasty side effects when one gets too much hydration. Now remain in bed until I clear you.” With that she left to speak with the other people in the room that Harry had not yet identified.

  
“Wonderful, now Harry before the others get here there is something I’ve been wondering about.” Professor Flitwick had a very serious look. “That was an impressive bit of magic last night, it took us quite a bit of work to get rid of all the ice. However, I don’t recall that spell being in your curriculum for this year. Did you invent it?”

  
“Yeah,” Harry felt heat rise to his cheeks, “I couldn’t get any of my spells to affect it so I had to try something different. With all the water everywhere I figured if I could freeze it that should at least slow the troll down. It was quick and dirty spell work though, I just needed to freeze the water. I just poured a lot of magic into it.”

  
“Indeed, and good timing too. I’d wager that we got there less than a few seconds after you had done so. You certainly didn’t stay up long after we got there.”

  
Harry hung his head, “I’m sorry sir. I tried to stay up and keep fighting, I was just so tired.”

  
“Nonsense, no one would expect you to stay up after a feat like that. You saved miss Grangers life, and that is more than anyone could have asked of you. Now that you are awake I can recognize that properly. Twenty points to Ravenclaw for quick thinking in the face of danger.” The little man had such a look of pride of his face that Harry forgot to blush and just smiled. “However, when anyone else asks, say that you don’t know how it happened. They are already convinced that it was accidental magic and you want them to maintain that opinion. As I said before the ministry gets rather angry when anyone starts inventing spells.”

  
“Good morning my boy.” On the other side of the bed was headmaster Dumbledore, his long white beard wafting about in a slight breeze. But, with that word, boy, Harry saw uncle Vernon, all he could think of was years of being called boy or freak, being stuffed in a cupboard and ignored. With a supreme effort he kept his roiling emotions off his face and looked down at the bed covers.

  
“Good morning sir.” He kept his voice small not inviting the man to say any more. This was the Headmaster, the supreme Mugwump whatever that was, and the chief warlock of the wizengamot. The wizengamot was the court of the wizarding world, they set the laws and the punishments for breaking them, they determined if someone was guilty of a crime, and they decided if a vault was plundered. Whether directly or as a result of inaction, this man was responsible for his family's wealth being given to the Malfoys, he was also the man who had sent him to the Dursleys. No wonder the man called him boy, maybe it was him who had told Vernon to call Harry that. The man probably thought himself a good person, likely had some excuse for the theft of the Potter wealth, like being outvoted, and would most likely claim that he didn’t know about how the Dursleys had treated Harry. None of which mattered, if this man wanted Harry’s trust or respect he was going to have to work for it.

  
After a minute of silence Dumbledore sighed. “We will need to hear your side of the story my boy. We have heard miss Grangers of course, but she could only tell us part of it. Please tell us what happened.”

  
Harry couldn’t think of anything in the tale that would make things worse for him, other than what professor Flitwick had mentioned so he told the tale. Starting at his first sight of the creature and ending when he passed out. Leaving out only the part concerning his quick spell creation, instead saying that he realized that nothing was working and said he started to panic. Then ice started forming and he was passing out. He said that it felt like a wave had passed through him in that moment and noticed Flitwick smiled knowingly, so he was sure he had gotten it right.

  
“Thank you Harry,” the headmaster was speaking again, “that fills in all the gaps. Do try to avoid trolls in future though. They are quite vicious when roused. Now I expect that Madam Pomfrey will want to have a look at you before she lets you leave.” Finally he was leaving, Harry felt like he was holding back an ocean trying not to scream at the man.

  
A moment later the green robed lady was back and waving her wand over him. “Yes you are fine. Breakfast is being served in the great hall, if you hurry you should get there in time. Make sure to eat a little extra this morning, and also at lunch. That will help you fully recover more quickly. Off you go then.”

  
Professor Flitwick joined Harry for the trip to the great hall and they chatted amiably about the freezing spell Harry had invented on the spot.

The next few weeks became a blur of study, spell practice, study, potion brewing, and study. Some of it with Hermione, who was quickly becoming a helpful spur for Harry. She was upset that Harry had started ahead of her and was rushing to catch up. She was arguably better than Harry, mastering spells at a pace that made him wonder if she was actually human. And despite the fact that he had more time to spend reading, she had finished nearly twice the number of books he had, and could recall more details from them than he could.

  
Harry decided that he didn’t mind that she was better, it pushed him to improve, to keep up with her as best he could. And besides, he wasn’t interested in being the best. What bothered him was that he still hadn’t found a solution to his problem with the Dursleys. There had to be an answer, and since he hadn’t found it in the main library, it must be in the restricted section. Unfortunately first years were never given permission to access that part of the library, so he would have to wait. While he was sure he could sneak in, there were hundreds of books back there, and he had no idea what exactly he was looking for. If he wanted to find something back there to help him, he would need a guide, and that required permission.

As December began he decided it was time to put another plan into action. He would begin his efforts to become an animagus. It was a fairly involved process, however as he had been studying it since late September he was fairly certain he understood the process now. First he would have to hold a mandrake leaf in his mouth for an hour each night for a month. This would send him into dreams which would lead him to his animal form. Once he knew his animal, he would need to study it, learn everything he could about it. Meanwhile he also needed to learn his own body, how it moved and reacted in as large a number of circumstances as he could manage. This all called for lots of meditation. Once the month was up, he would make a potion which would actually transform him into his animal form. Each brewing of the potion used one of the mandrake leaves as one of it’s ingredients. He would need to pay special attention to the change as it happened so that he could begin training his body to do it without the potion. The entire process would take a lot of time, the books said to expect two or three years.

One day shortly before the beginning of the christmas break, which professor Flitwick called winter break for some reason Harry hadn’t figured out yet. He was headed to his private brewing lab to work on a new sleeping potion. His orders from the camp and book stores had finally come and it was time to get to work on getting things ready for his next foray into the third floor. As he strolled towards the lab he was wondering about lost items, did the school have a lost and found? Or was anything lost simply thrown out? If there was a lost and found, where was it, and could he get into it and have a look through what it held. It was always possible that someone would lose something useful. Much to his surprise when he opened the door to his lab it instead turned out to be a room full of junk.

  
Actually, he thought as he walked about gazing in wonder at the piles of junk items stacked so high that he didn’t think the stacks should fit inside the school, room was the wrong word. City might be more fitting. A nearly endless array of junk items was simply tossed around in this room. “Well, I was curious where the lost and found was. Guess I found it. I could spend the rest of my seven years in here and not even sort through half of this. Still, definitely worth a look. Later though, I really need to get that potion ready.”

  
Reluctantly leaving the room he made a note of its location, just across the hall from a tapestry of someone teaching trolls to dance. He continued down the hall looking for his brewing lab. A few minutes later having gone up and down the hall several times he finally found it. But that was the weird thing. It was right across the hall from that same tapestry. How does that work? He wondered. Now completely sidetracked from his intended purpose he spent several long minutes pacing and wondering about the door that led to two different rooms. After several such trips and checking the door many times he realized that it had to do with what he was thinking of while he paced. If he was thinking of his lab the door led to that, if he was thinking of the lost and found it led there. If he thought of nothing the door simply vanished. Considering some other options he soon discovered that he could get the room to be almost anything he wanted, he just had to think clearly about what he wanted it to be. With that in mind he returned to his lab, but added a door in the back that led to the lost and found. With that in place he could brew, and then search for useful items while his potions simmered.

As christmas approached he had a minor panic attack. Hermione had told him as she was leaving that she expected a present from him, which reminded him that other people might expect the same. So he was considering what he could do for the few people he wanted to get presents for. For Hermione he decided to find a small log in the forest and transfigure it into a jewelry box. A simple transfiguration like that could be made permanent with enough magic. For Flitwick he settled on a similarly transfigured stone plaque proclaiming him the best professor ever. A little cheesy but he thought the kind hearted man would appreciate it. He wasn’t sure if giving gifts to ones professor was considered normal or not, but he didn’t care. Finally he thought Hagrid would appreciate a wood carving of a dragon. The friendly giant had invited him and Hermione down to tea almost every week, and had eventually told him stories of his dad’s pranks, played on the whole school usually, and that more than anything had warmed him to the large man.

  
Of course he didn’t expect anyone to give him anything, but that was okay. He had never received a christmas present before and he was planning to give himself a good one anyway. Everything was ready to try the third floor again, and he planned to do it christmas day while everyone else in the castle was occupied.

  
When he woke up christmas morning though he found a small pile of packages at the foot of his bed. Slightly confused he sorted through them. There was one from Hermione, he guessed maybe he should have expected that. One from Hagrid, a little surprising, one from Flitwick very surprising, one from a mrs. Weasley he thought he recognized the name but wasn’t sure, and one unmarked that was confusing, perhaps the label had been lost in transit.

  
Hermione had gotten him a book on runes that he had checked out from the library several times, the note said now he has a copy of his own with a little smiley face drawn in. Flitwick got him a book on enchanting, the card with it apologised for not having had time to work on Harry’s magical music recorder and offered to do so over the break as he would have time before the students returned. Hagrid sent him a hand carved wooden flute which he looked over curiously and blew into experimentally, he thought it sounded a bit like bird song, now if only he knew how to play it properly. Mrs. Weasley sent him a thick woolen jumper in a green that nearly matched his eyes. The card with it explained that her son Ron had written that Harry didn’t seem to have many friends and extolled the virtues of her children at Hogwarts, Percy who was apparently a prefect in Gryffindor, Fred and George, Harry had heard of them, they were apparently pranksters, and Ron her youngest son who was also in his first year. It also mentioned her daughter Ginny who would be at Hogwarts next year and was very much looking forward to meeting him. Hmm, sounds like a fan girl he thought, why else would she be interested in meeting me. Still a nice jumper, hand knitted with a large letter H over the chest done in blue. Trying it on he found it was warm and comfy, it was also the only jumper he had for the moment.

  
The last present turned out to be a large cloak of shimmering fabric, very soft, almost like liquid in his hand. As he ran his hand through it a card fell out.

  
Your father left this in my care several years ago, it is time it was returned to you, use it well. The card read in a thin, scrawling hand, there was no signature.

  
Throwing the cloak over his shoulders he strolled over to the mirror to see how it looked and nearly fell over from surprise. There was his head apparently floating on nothing. Where the cloak covered him he was completely invisible. Pulling the hood up he could see nothing of himself. Then he whooped, and started to laugh. This was great, the perfect tool for getting to the third floor, or staying hidden to get away from the Dursleys.

  
A very cheerful Harry made his way down to breakfast.

  
There were so few people left in the castle that there was only one table in the great hall and everyone was sharing it. Headmaster Dumbledore was pulling crackers with professors Snape and Mcgonagall, Professor Flitwick was chatting with Madam Pomfrey and four redheaded boys, two of whom were twins were sitting together each wearing a hand knitted jumper. Seeing them Harry remembered where he had heard the name Weasley before, at the sorting. These then would be the children of mrs. Weasley. He sat down across from them and addressed himself to them.

  
“Happy christmas, I believe one of you is the reason I have this excellent new jumper.” The youngest of the redheads choked on his bacon.

  
“Umm, yeah that was me.”

  
Harry gave him a hard look. “Well, normally I would be upset at someone for spreading stories about me, however as this is such an exceptionally fine jumper I’ll forgive you and say thanks.” He smiled broadly to show he had no hard feelings.

  
The youngest redhead grew redder and redder as he spoke until Harry smiled at which point he let out a great whoosh of breath and the twins fell over laughing. The oldest of the four, Percy if Harry remembered correctly, looked over at his youngest brother. “Well Ron, what do you say?”

  
“Oh, right. You’re welcome Harry, I’m glad you like it.” He offered his hand across the table, which Harry took and shook once.

  
Turning to the twins he said, “So I’m told you two are pranksters, is that correct?”

  
“Well young Harry,” began one of the two, “we can neither confirm nor deny such accusations,” continued the second,” unless we know who is making it.” Finished the first.

  
Harry felt like he was watching a tennis match looking back and forth between them as they spoke. “Umm, almost everyone. I think I first heard it from Hagrid though.”

  
“Ah Hagrid, he’s a fine chap he is.”

  
“And he would know dear brother.”

  
“Yes he would, wouldn’t he.”

  
“We did turn his hair blue in our first year.”

  
“Ah yes memory’s, such good times we had back then.”

  
“But why do you ask young Harry?”

  
“Yes, indeed, why ever would you want to know about such things?”

  
“Are you worried about your hair?”

  
“We could make it match your eyes if you like.”

  
The twins spoke so rapidly that he was getting dizzy. “Actually, Hagrid told me about some of the pranks my dad played when he was here, and I wondered if you might like to trade stories, and maybe help me play a prank of my own.”

  
The two stared at him mouths agape before sharing a look of pure mischief. “Why Harry,” one began, “You’re speaking our language,” the other continued, “we would be proud to share stories,” continued the first, “and pranks.” Finished the second.

  
Percy finally jumped into the conversation, “I’m not sure that’s a good idea Harry. These two could get you into trouble if you aren’t careful. Surely you don’t want to harm your education in such a way?”

  
“It’s Percy right?” Harry asked turning to the oldest brother. At his nod he continued, “well, I certainly wouldn't want to harm my education. However, I don’t see a harmless prank doing any damage. After all my dad apparently pranked the entire school at least once a year and he was head boy, even graduated with honors.”

  
The color drained from Percy’s face and he looked like he was about to pass out. The twins quickly reached over to hold him up. “Careful there Perce, it’s okay, we won’t take the headboy badge from you.” “Yeah, we don’t want it.”

  
“But, but,” Turning to professor Mcgonagall he spurted, “Please professor, please tell me that pulling pranks is not the way to make head boy.” He looked desperate and Harry was unable to hold in a laugh.

  
The professor looked a bit taken aback and shot a stern look at the twins. “No mister Weasley pranking is certainly not a requirement for any position in this school. Wherever did you get such an idea?”

  
Harry spoke up before she could turn her attention on the twins. “That would be me professor. I was just explaining that Hagrid told me about my dad being headboy despite pranking the whole school several times.”

  
Mcgonagall dropped her head into her hand before replying, “That is an accurate statement. However, I can assure you that he did not make head boy because of his penchant for tormenting the students and staff with general tomfoolery. He received the honor because he had the highest grades in his year with one exception, and that exception, his friend mister Lupin refused to accept the position.”

  
“Can you tell us,” “Oh great and wise professor,” “Of this great man.” The twins said together.

  
“Hmph, I think not, if you want stories of pranks, talk to Hagrid.”

  
“What about me professor? I’ve been meaning to ask you about my parents all year, I’ve just been so busy I keep forgetting to.”

  
She turned her stern look upon him looking as though she intended to berate him for having the audacity to ask such a question. Before she opened her mouth however her face softened. “There’s isn’t really much I can tell you mister Potter beyond their classroom achievements. I can understand why you would ask though. This is hardly the time or place for such a discussion however, if you want to talk about such things come see me in my office. I will have time over the next few days until the other students return.”

  
“Thank you professor, that’s very kind.” She smiled at him, and he was amazed to see how it changed her stern face into a warm friendly appearance.

  
“You are most welcome mister Potter. Now here, lets lighten the mood, have you tried any of the crackers yet?” And she offered up a large cracker which he laughingly pulled with her receiving a new hat for his effort, it was a fairly nice fisherman's sun hat which he perched jauntily on his head.

  
The rest of breakfast was much lighter, full of laughter, crackers and good food. Harry left with a new chess set, and the knowledge that Ron was an avid player of the game, a signed poster of the weird sisters a wizarding band, and a replicating chocolate apple which when thrown on the table would split into ten slightly smaller apples. He also agreed to meet the brothers outside on the lawn for a snowball fight that afternoon.

Making sure he was seen returning to Ravenclaw tower he pulled on his new cloak and made his way to the third floor.

  
The door squeaked again, the dog ate the steak and passed out. The fireballs drove off the plant, the lock on the door was jimmied. The chess set was still nerve wracking, even with the help of the book on chess strategy from which he had memorized a few winning move sets that allowed him to beat the white pieces with relative ease.

  
Back in the room with the troll he pulled out his other new acquisition a shiny new slingshot. Loading in a glass bead filled with the sleeping potion he had brewed for this occasion. He took careful aim and let fly. The ball sailed through the air and smashed on the trolls forehead. The potion dribbled down its face dripping into its gaping mouth. For a moment the hulking green giant looked around stupidly trying to see where the attack had come from, then it fell over snoring loudly.

  
Rushing over to grab the key from its neck Harry held one hand over his mouth and nose trying not to breathe too deeply. This troll smelled even worse than the other one.

  
The next room had a long table laden with potion bottles and a scroll of parchment next to it. As he entered, the door behind him filled with purple flames, behind the table another doorway filled with black flames. Approaching the table he picked up the scroll.

  
Danger lies before you, while safety lies behind,  
Two of us will help you, whichever you would find,  
One among us seven will let you move ahead,  
Another will transport the drinker back instead,  
Two among our number hold only nettle wine,  
Three of us are killers, waiting hidden in line.  
Choose, unless you wish to stay here evermore,  
To help you in your choice, we give you these clues four:  
First, however slyly the poison tries to hide  
You will always find some on nettle wines left side;  
Second, different are those who stand at either end,  
But if you would move onwards neither is your friend;  
Third, as you see clearly, all are different size,  
Neither dwarf nor giant holds death in their insides;  
Fourth, the second left and the second on the right  
Are twins once you taste them, though different at first sight.

  
“Hmm, a puzzle huh? Well ok then let’s see. Two are wine and these two are twins so most likely those are the wine. Poison on the left of the wine, so those two are poison. Neither dwarf nor giant which is those two, so that one is poison. This one on the end won’t help with moving forward, so this one has to be the one I need to move on, and this one to go back. Alright, here’s the test.” He picked up the small bottle he identified as the one he needed and took a sip. A feeling of ice slid through him and he shivered. “Okay, lets see if I’m right.”

  
The flames tickled as he passed through them and he held in the reflexive whoop of joy at his small triumph.

  
There was no exit from the next room and it held only a large mirror, carved about with some language Harry didn’t bother trying to identify. What was in the mirror was far more interesting. In the mirror he saw two people standing beside him. His parents looking proud and cheerful. They each placed a hand on his shoulders, his mom mouthed I love you, his dad seemed to be saying go get ‘em son. Harry broke and fell to his knees tears falling freely down his cheeks.

  
He had no way of knowing for sure how long he knelt there allowing his emotions to run away with him, but he eventually got control of himself again. Looking back up at the image of his parents in the mirror he asked, “What do I need to do next?”

  
They smiled and motioned to his own image. His reflection was smiling sadly at him, it turned and hugged his mother. When it turned back to him it was holding a large red stone in its hand. Winking at him it placed the stone in its pocket and Harry felt a weight land in his own pocket.

  
Pulling the stone out he looked it over, it didn’t appear to be anything special. “Huh, I wonder what it is. Oh well, I’ll figure it out later." Placing the stone back in his pocket he looked back to his parents images. “I miss you both. I’m doing my best to make you proud.” He kissed his fingers and held them out to his mother's image, “love you mum, love you dad.” He waived to his father’s image. Smiling sadly rather like his reflection he turned to leave.

  
Getting back out was even easier than it had been last time. With the cloak he didn’t even have to dodge keys, they left him alone.  
Back in his study he placed the stone in a drawer in his desk and checked the time. It was almost time to grab lunch and join the Weasleys for a snowball fight.

The next day he had tea with professor Mcgonagall and got more stories about his parents. While she didn’t really know much she was able to share some tidbits that he hadn’t heard before and by the end of the meeting he felt like he knew them a little bit better.

  
Most of the rest of the break he spent with Flitwick discussing enchanting and spell invention. It took nearly all the time they had to create the magical music recorder, but when they completed it Harry felt deeply accomplished. And that evening he finally got to enjoy his favorite music while brewing, and sorting through junk in the hopes of finding something useful.

  
So far in his search he had found hundreds of broken and useless items, a few dozen books in various states of disrepair, only a few of which were worth keeping, and one unbroken item. A broomstick, labeled nimbus 2000 which he later learned was the newest on the market. He kind of wished he knew how or why it was in the junk room, but wasn’t going to try too hard to find out. He wouldn’t want its original owner to attempt to reclaim it.

Near the end of the break Harry was back in Flitwick’s office testing out of history, defence and potions for the second term. I turned out that when they had discussed it the first time, Flitwick had misrecalled details. He had thought that Harry would have to sit the end of year exams with his year mates. Instead it was much the same as the first time around. He had to sit the end of year exams in order to be exempt from the class.

  
His scores were improved from last time, full marks on history and defence, and nearly full marks on potions. Flitwick beamed with pride as Harry cheered.

  
“Well done mister Potter, well done. At this rate I expect you to pass your OWLs early, at least for these classes.”  
“OWL’s sir?” Harry asked.

  
“The exams taken at the end of your fifth year. When you begin looking for a job after graduation potential employers will look at both your OWL and NEWT results. They stand for Ordinary Wizarding Level, and Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Test.”

  
‘Okay, I’ll have to do some research on those later. In the meantime though there’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you, if you don’t mind.”

  
“Ask away Harry, ask away.”

  
“Well sir, I was wondering, you always call this winter break, while everyone else calls it christmas break. I wondered why the difference?”

  
“Ah, well Harry my family doesn’t celebrate christmas. There are a lot of holy days that are celebrated at this time of year. Most people in this part of the world do celebrate christmas of course, however not everyone. I choose to recognize that fact with things like calling it winter break. I hope that answers your question.”

  
Sensing that the professor wasn’t much interested in discussing his own traditions Harry decided to drop the subject. “It does sir, thank you.”

  
After a minute of silently enjoying their tea Harry decided to broach a different topic. “Umm, sir, you mentioned a while ago about dueling lessons.”

  
“I did yes. Unfortunately you still haven’t gotten quite to the right spell repertoire yet. I'll tell you what though. I’ll give you a list of spells to learn. Once you have them all mastered we can start dueling training.”

  
“Okay, thank you sir.”

  
“You are most welcome mister Potter.”

A few days after the end of the break Hermione announced that she too was dropping history. She had finally agreed that Bins was less conducive to study than the quiet library. She still insisted though that the classroom time was beneficial in her other classes. This meant more time shared with her going over charts and facts, memorising minutiae concerning various classes. They even took some time to look through the books for the optional classes and began working out which ones they wanted to take in third year.

  
Even better though, Harry now knew his animal form. He found it a bit surprising if he was being honest with himself, and he was researching madly about the species. He had grabbed the book Hermione had found months ago in the library in an attempt to discover why that form. Unfortunately it wasn’t actually much help. The book went on at length about how personality traits as well as physical ones worked together to determine the animal form of a potential animagus. It also claimed that only certain very powerful witches and wizards even could become animagus, which Harry felt was most likely inaccurate. More likely he thought anyone could do it, most just didn’t, or otherwise some pureblood had simply made that claim in the vain hope to make themselves feel stronger.

In March Harry’s life got interesting again, and it all started with Malfoy.

  
Hermione had been dragging him out of the library to visit Hagrid, apparently he had sent her an invitation at breakfast, and they ran into Malfoy and his goons. Malfoy, was looking a bit put out by something and he glared at them and turned his attention on Hermione. “Get out of my way you filthy little mudblood.” Harry snapped, it had taken him a while to learn the meaning of that word, though admittedly it was low on his priority list. It had turned out to be a particularly foul word for muggle born witches and wizards. Before he could consider his actions Harry had drawn back and slammed his fist into Malfoy’s nose, there was a satisfying crunch and the annoying Slytherin doubled over clutching his face, which was spurting blood. Unfortunately professor Mcgonagall happened to be passing by just at that moment.

  
“Mister Potter, what are you thinking? Thirty points from Ravenclaw and detention.”

  
He decided it was worth the punishment to see the little ponce spurting blood and blubbering. He couldn’t even properly taunt Harry as every time he opened his mouth he got a taste of blood and gagged.

After that a trip to Hagrid’s seemed a bit anticlimactic, but they still went down to visit.

  
Hagrid’s hut was sweltering, he had a roaring fire going and every window closed up tight. Despite the heat it didn’t take long to notice the large black egg shaped object in the fire, which drew Harry’s attention.

  
“Hagrid, what is that?” He asked pointing at the unknown object.

  
“That’s what I asked yer down here to see.”

  
“Hagrid, is that a dragon egg?” Hermione’s voice was soft, but she sounded almost frightened.

  
“Yep.” Hagrid on the other hand sounded almost like a proud parent. “Got it last night, been in the library all day. What I’ve got there is a norwegian ridgeback. Their rare them. I found everything I need. You got to keep the egg in the fire, cause their mothers breathe on ‘em see. Then, after it’s hatched you have to feed it on a bucket of chicken blood mixed with brandy, twice a day for about a week. All very simple.”

  
“Hagrid, you live in a wooden house.”

  
“Oh no worries Hermione, I’ll get along fine. You’ll see.”

  
“Hagrid, while I think it’s great that you got a dragon, I remember you mentioning that you always wanted one.” Harry did his best to sound helpful and interested. “I have to wonder, how long do you think you can keep it without it being noticed? I mean people visit you fairly often, I know we aren’t the only ones. You live in a one room hut, which while lovely, and clearly perfect for you, is entirely without places to hide. And it’s illegal to own a dragon. Admittedly special permission might be granted, the law did say it was specifically to prevent muggle notice, which can’t happen here. But you would still need to get permission from Dumbledore. Have you talked to him about it?”

“Ah, well, no I haven’t. Not yet anyway.”

  
“Hagrid, I don’t think you would try to get either of us in trouble intentionally. However if it were discovered that we knew about this and didn’t tell anyone, we could be in just as much trouble as you. Please Hagrid, tell Dumbledore today, before you do anything else. I don’t want to get in any trouble over this. And the only way I can prevent that is to tell someone myself, which I also don’t want to do. You deserve to keep your new pet if it makes you happy. So please, talk to Dumbledore.” Harry kept his voice very calm and even through this speech. Despite the fact that his heart was once again trying to break through his ribcage.

  
Hagrid had started tearing up halfway through Harry’s speech and reached out as he stopped talking to wrap the small boy in a rib cracking hug. “Yer right Harry, I, I shouldn’t have risked you two on this. Come on, I’ll go tell Dumbledore right now. We can walk up to the castle together.”


	9. Chapter 9

A few days later mr. Filch came to take him to his detention. This was unusual as it was already after curfew. Normally a detention would end at curfew regardless of who set it. For a detention to begin after that point did not bode well for Harry.

  
“Well now, aren’t we in trouble.” The old caretaker started in on Harry as soon as they were out of the tower and away from prying eyes. “They should never have let the old punishments go. You little heathens wouldn’t go dropping dungbombs, or ignoring curfews if you knew I had it in my power to hang you up by your thumbs, would you.” The look on the ancient cracked face invited no reply, and Harry carefully kept his mouth shut. “Well no matter. You’ll be going into the forest, and I’ll be very much surprised if you come back out again.”

  
The obnoxious man continued to rail at Harry about all of the nasty things he wanted to do to Harry all the way to Hagrid’s hut. Hagrid was outside when they got there. The enormous man had a crossbow on his shoulder and a quiver of bolts on his hip.

  
“Yer late, hurry up there.”

  
“Here he is then, the little rule breaker. I’ll be back in the morning, for what’s left of him.”

  
“So that’s what took so long. Been lecturing ‘ey. Not your place to do that. Your only job was to bring him here. Well, you’ve done your bit, off you go then.”

  
Once Filch was gone Hagrid turned his beetle black eyes to Harry. “Harry, I wanted to thank you. I did what you said, and talked with the headmaster. You were right, he helped right off. Norbert gets to stay here, we got us a permit and everything. He’s even gonna hire a dragon expert to come up for a couple months and teach us what we need to know to take care of him.” And with that he reached down and pulled Harry into a bone breaking hug. When the big man finally let Harry down he checked himself over to see if anything actually had broken. He was relieved to discover that he was still in one piece.

  
“Alright, now. We’ve got an important job to do tonight. Come on, I’ll explain inside.” They walked into the forest, within a few feet the branches were pressing down on them, and the gloom of the evening became the black of pitch. The forest was too thick for the moonlight to penetrate, and the light from Hagrid’s lantern and Harry’s wand only went so far.

  
A little way into the forest Hagrid stopped and showed Harry a spot of some glittering silvery substance on the ground. “This here is unicorn blood Harry. Something has been hurting them the last few nights. We need to find the unicorn and quick. To leave a trail like this the poor thing must be badly injured. The sooner we find it, the more help we can be. So keep an eye out for the trail and stick close. It’s dangerous in here.”

  
The trail wound deep into the forest and they were soon picking their way through short bushes, and over fallen logs. This gave Harry an idea for larger presents for next year. He had to remind himself several times that he needed to pay attention to what he was doing. He kept getting excited over the things he saw. Not only were there plenty of fallen trees that he could use to make gifts, there were also lots of stones of various types and sizes. And all kinds of small animals he could regularly glimpse through the leaves, in the dancing light of the lantern. Unfortunately they rarely stayed where he could see them if he turned his wand light toward them.

  
Eventually getting a bit bored with following the trail he asked the giant, “Hagrid, can you tell me about the creatures that live in the forest?”

  
“Hmm, I can at that Harry. There’s not a single creature in these woods I don’t know about. Now’s not really the time though. We’ve got to find that unicorn. I tell you what though, if you’re interested I can show you around a bit, and tell you some things. During the day though, bit too dangerous at night.”

  
The large man fell silent once more and Harry tried to focus on following the trail. Fortunately he didn’t have long to wait after that. They soon came upon a white lump laying across the trail they had been following. On closer inspection the lump resolved into the unicorn. It was lying in a pool of the bright silvery blood and after a moment up close Hagrid pronounced that it was already dead. Harry approached and laid a hand on the poor creatures mane. It was soft and sort of flowed around his fingers. The body he could tell was still warm, he turned to ask how long ago it had died when there was a soft slithering motion in the bushes nearby.

  
Hagrid grabbed and shoved Harry behind himself. “Stay back Harry, I don’t recognize that sound.” The giant lowered the crossbow, leveling it toward the sound. “Back up slowly Harry, get behind that tree.” He said quietly motioning toward a nearby trunk.

  
He started moving slowly, however Hagrid moved much faster than he could and he soon found himself almost running to keep up. Looking out from behind the tree he saw something floating out from the bushes. It flowed over the ground, wrapped in what seemed to be a long black cloak. It floated over to the unicorn and lowered it’s head over the animals neck.

  
“Get out of it!” Hagrid’s voice boomed across the clearing, Harry felt sure it would be heard all the way to the castle. The thing turned toward them, all that could be seen under the hood was a small mouth coated in a bright silvery substance that Harry was sure had to be the unicorn’s blood.

  
Before he could react to the sight there was a twang and a bolt from Hagrid’s crossbow struck the thing shoving it backward into the bushes again. Suddenly there was a pounding of hooves and the small clearing was filled with men on horseback, no they weren’t on horseback. They were the horses, with the bodies of men rising up where the head would be on a normal horse.

  
“What is going on here?” The dark haired one in the front asked.

  
“A sad evening Magorian.” Hagrid gestured to the unicorn. “Just found the poor thing. Don’t know what killed it. But I managed to hit what was drinking the blood.” He gestured with the crossbow in his other hand to the bushes. The horse man and Hagrid moved to look closer, and Harry was distracted by a second horse man.

  
This one had blonde hair and bright blue eyes. “Good evening Harry Potter. What brings you out on such an evening?”

  
“Umm, detention. I helped Hagrid find the hurt unicorn.” He was having a hard time craning his neck far enough to look the horse man in the face.

  
“These are dark times Harry Potter. I wonder, do you know why this thing was done?”

  
“Umm no sir, I don’t. It seems a strange thing to do.”

  
“Strange indeed. Unicorn blood carries a powerful healing magic. It will keep you alive even if you are an inch from death. However, it is a terrible thing to harm a unicorn. The one who does so would have to be immensely desperate. For once the blood touches your lips you will have only a half life, a cursed life.”

  
“Then why would someone drink it. Wouldn’t it be better to die if that’s the trade?”

  
“Perhaps, but what if you only needed to stay alive long enough to drink something else?” Something more powerful still. Do you know what is hidden in the castle at this very moment, Harry Potter?”

  
“Something’s hidden in the castle?” Harry asked trying to hide his trepidation. Did the creature mean the stone?

  
Before the creature could respond Hagrid appeared by his side. “Good evening Ferenzi. Hope you’re doing well tonight.”

  
“Well enough Hagrid. I would recommend returning your young charge to the castle. It is not safe in the forest at this time.”

  
“Now we know what happened we’ll be headed that way. Thank you for looking after him for me.”

  
“You are welcome Hagrid. Fair well.”

  
The horsemen wheeled around and trotted away into the forest.

  
“Centaurs Harry, normally you can’t get much out of them that’s not to do with the stars. Guess the sight of a dead unicorn got them talkative. Well come on then, back to the castle, stay close.”

  
The trip back went faster as they weren’t stopping to look for blood spatters every few feet. Harry kept listening for more of those slithery sounds, which he realized were from the cloak brushing the ground. He fancied he heard it several times, but nothing came out of the woods towards them.

  
When they finally left the forest Harry found his voice at last. “Hagrid, the centaur, Ferenzi. He mentioned about something being hidden in the castle. He seemed to think that I should know about it.”

  
Hagrid looked fearful for a moment. “You forget about that. That’s not for you to go worrying about. That’s between professor Dumbledore, and Nicolas Flamel.” He blanched, “I shouldn’t have said that.”

  
“Ok, I’ll forget about it. Sorry I mentioned it Hagrid.”

  
“That’s alright Harry. You get on up to bed now.”

  
Okay, see you later.” He waived as he headed for the castle, noting as he did so that he still had his wand in his hand. Putting the wand away he realized that his empty hand was curled into a tight fist. Looking down at it he discovered that he had a fistful of long white hairs, and a large spot of silvery blood on his hand. He quickly pulled a vial from a pocket and collected the blood, then tucked the hairs into a second vial. He wasn’t sure what he could do with them, however he thought he might find a use for them later.

Hagrid was good to his word and took Harry and Hermione on several trips into the forest over the next few weeks. He told them about the various creatures that could be found, and taught them to identify trees by their leaves. Hermione had commented that he was much more knowledgeable than she had expected for not being a teacher. To which Hagrid responded that he had always wanted to be a teacher but that he wasn’t allowed due to having been expelled in his third year.

As the end of year exams approached Harry was planning a school wide prank with the twins hoping to end the year on a high note. However on the night they had planned to put their prank into motion things went wrong. They had gotten the potion into the morning supply of pumpkin juice, and were layering in the spells on the benches in the great hall when he was suddenly wrapped in a warm happy feeling, while a voice whispered in his head to walk to the third floor.


	10. Chapter 10

At the door to the dog’s room he stopped. Someone opened the door and a harp floated past him into the room and began to play. He walked into the room and opened the trap door. The voice told him to jump and he began to fight. There was a killer plant down there, jumping in without sending a fireball or three down first was dangerous. He was however, unable to overcome the happy feeling and the voice won, he jumped. The plant turned out to be soft and a moment after he landed two more bodies landed next to him. The twins were here too. He could feel the roots twining through his hair and around his arms and legs, and worst of all around his throat. His air was being cut off when they finally retreated, the purple turban gave away the identity of the person responsible for his being down here again.

  
Quirrell waved his wand again and more flames leapt out to drive the plant back. The voice in his head told him to get up and follow the professor. In the room with the keys he and the twins were ordered onto the brooms to chase the large silver key. Fred and George herded it into a corner while Harry chased it down and caught it.

  
At the chess set Harry was forced to take the place of a pawn while the twins became the bishops. Deep inside his head where he was still in control he was screaming at himself to stop. The game was even more nerve wracking as the white statues rushed about the board smashing black piece after black piece. When the white queen took one of the twins, Harry wasn’t sure which one it was, he almost broke free of the control. Seeing the normally laughing friendly redhead lying on the ground bleeding from a head wound almost gave him enough adrenaline to do it, but when the voice told him to move he walked calmly to the next room.

  
Quirrell dealt with the troll, he cast a spell Harry didn’t recognize and the troll simply fell over, retrieving the key the voice once more told him to move. Deep inside he was screaming at his legs to turn around, to run, to grab Fred or George whichever it was and get out.

His body however just walked into the next room. Quirrell picked up the vial of potion that would allow him to move forward took a sip and thrust the vial into Harry’s hand. He watched from inside his head as he sipped at the liquid inside. The second twin was left behind as he followed Quirrell into the last chamber.

  
The mirror was still there and once again he saw his parents reflected in it. This time though they did not look proud. Instead they were glaring at the professor who had dragged their son down here. When they looked at Harry they smiled thinly and sent encouraging gestures.

  
“Well, where is the stone boy? Give it to me.” Quirrell wasn’t stuttering, he sounded confident, even through the harsh rasp his voice seemed to have taken on. “This mirror is the key, I look into it and see myself presenting the stone to my master. But where is it, how do I get it. My master tells me that you should be able to get it for me. So, where is it? Tell me what you see.”

  
And finally he was free, the thought of betraying himself, which would in effect be a betrayal of his parents gave him the strength which had evaded him before.

  
“Go fuck yourself you stuttering shitbag!” Harry shouted as he ran for the door.

  
Before he could make it through, flames reared up and engulfed his only exit. “Well, well, well. Little Potter has some fight in him. No one has ever figured it out you know. How you survived all those years ago. Tell me Potter, how did you do it?”

  
“You think I would know? You really are stupid.” He sneered at the man.

  
Another voice spoke, this one cracked and broken as though it was speaking through a layer of sand. “Let me speak to him.”

  
Quirrell turned pale at the sound. “But master you are not strong enough.”

  
“I have strength enough for this, let me speak to him.”

  
“Very well master.” The shaking man reached up and unwound the turban from his head. As the last of it fell to the floor he turned and Harry felt his gorge rise in his throat. On the back of Quirrell’s head was a face. It’s eyes were glowing red and it had two slits in place of a nose, the mouth too was wrong, just a slit with sharp pointed teeth and no lips.

  
When it spoke again its voice was louder yet still broken. “Hello Harry Potter, you see what I have become since our last encounter. You will get that stone for me, and you will tell me how you survived me, or I will kill those two worthless blood traitors I dragged down here with you. Now get over here and look in this mirror.”

  
“We’ve never met you brainless dolt. And I’m not helping you with anything ever.”

  
“Have we not met before, then you don’t know who I am. I boy, am lord Voldemort, and I command you to obey.” Quirrell raised his wand at this last and shot another spell at him, but he was ready. He dove to the side and seeing that the door was still full of fire he whipped out his own wand and shot a jelly legs jinx. It went wide and then he was too busy dodging spell after spell to get in another shot. On his third attempt to dodge he was too slow, his wand jumped out of his hand and before he could process that fact he was wrapped in ropes that had sprung out of nowhere.

  
Struggling proved to be useless and soon he was floating over to the mirror. “Now look and tell me how to get the stone.”

  
In the mirror his parents were again glaring at the formerly turbanned professor and his passenger. They looked at Harry and made a motion with their hands while mouthing something he couldn’t make out. After several repetitions of this he finally managed to work out what they wanted. He twisted one hand to make the motion they had been miming and shouted “Finite Incantatem!” The ropes fell away. Knowing he wouldn’t be able to run quick enough to get away he reached for Quirrell’s wand hoping that he could buy himself some time by throwing it to the other end of the room. When he touched Quirrell’s hand though smoke rose up from the appendage as his flesh blackened. Startled Harry let go and the wand fell to the floor. Since Quirrell was momentarily distracted looking at his hand Harry took off for the door again.

  
“Catch him, grab him!”

  
“Master my, my hand.”

  
“He’s getting away you fool.”

  
Almost to the door Harry groaned when he felt hands grabbing him from behind. He’d almost made it. Quirrell was turning him around and almost without thinking about it he reached up and grabbed Quirrell’s face. Recalling something he had seen in a tv show once he plunged his thumbs into the man’s eyes. Quirrell screamed and tried to wrench himself away. Harry let him go and scrambled back to his feet. A black tar like smoke was oozing out of Quirrell who was now falling apart. His screams faded away and after only a few moments collapsed into a heap on the floor. The smoke soared around the room twice before seeping through a crack in the wall.

  
With all the obstacles gone Harry retrieved his wand and made his way back out of the room. The potion room was empty as were the troll and chess rooms. In the key room he grabbed the broom leaning against the wall, the other two were missing. He finally found Fred and George in the hall outside of the room with the dog.

  
“Harry my man, how did you get away?”

  
“It wasn’t easy let me tell you. What happened with you two?”

  
“Well sometime after you left I got back control of my body,” the uninjured twin began. So I worked out the riddle with the potions and decided my best bet was to get Fred here to the infirmary and send a professor down to help you out.”

  
“I was just waking up when he got to me.” Said the now identified Fred. “We worked together to get back out and then you caught up with us. So what was all that about?”

  
“Quirrell was after some kind of stone. He wanted it for his master, there was a face on the back of his head that claimed to be Voldemort.” The twins flinched as he said the name and he gave them a confused look. Shaking it off he continued. “There was this big mirror in the last room and he kept trying to get me to look into it and tell him what I saw. I guess he thought the mirror would show me where the stone was. All it showed me was how to get away from him though. Then the weirdest thing happened. I grabbed for his wand, but when I touched his hand it hurt him. He grabbed me so I grabbed his face and he let go. Then this black smoke came out of him and he fell over. After that I ran.”

  
“Wow, that’s one hell of a story Harry.” Said George.

  
“Yeah, wish we could have seen it.” Fred answered.

  
“And what do you three think you are doing out of bed?” The new voice came from professor Sprout who had come around a corner looking angry. Until she saw Fred’s bleeding head wound. “Oh my, what happened. Come on, much quicker with a stretcher.” She waved her wand and a stretcher appeared in front of them. With only a little grumbling Fred climbed onto it and they made much better time the rest of the way to the infirmary.

  
Soon all three of them were in beds. Harry had magical exhaustion again, Fred was being treated for blood loss along with the head wound and minor concussion, and George was really just there for moral support. Accepting that they were all safe Harry finally allowed himself to slip off to sleep.

  
When he woke Dumbledore was there again. “Good morning Harry, did you sleep well?” He smiled gently, rather like what Harry thought a kindly grandfather would, and his eyes were twinkling. Harry found the entire look disconcerting and chose to look at the bed cover instead.

  
“Yes sir.”

  
“Would you like to tell me what happened Harry?” He sounded a bit disappointed, though Harry couldn’t think of anything the man had to be disappointed about.

  
Deciding there wasn’t much for him to be worried about he told the story. Leaving out the prank, making it sound like they had been taken from near the library, and forgetting to mention his language. When he finished he asked, “but Voldemort is supposed to be dead. Was it really him?”

  
The elderly man sighed heavily, “I believe that it was him Harry yes. No one knows what vile magics lord Voldemort practiced, and his body was never found. I believe he is still out there somewhere looking for a way to return. However last night you stopped him, and all it will take next time is for someone to face what may seem like impossible odds to do so again. And if we continue to do so, why then he may never return.”

  
“But he could, and if he does he’ll hurt more people again. Can you tell me anything about him sir? Anything that will help if I ever run into him again?”

  
“Not today my boy, perhaps someday when you are older. But today you need to rest, and I will need to be going before Madam Pomfrey kicks me out. Rest harry, we will talk again later.”

Harry and the twins were released in time for lunch and were delighted to see that their prank had worked, at least what parts they had finished before Quirrell got to them. Nearly every head in the great hall was sporting metallic hair in their house colors, and about half of the students were wearing rainbow robes. Laughing heartily they joined their house tables and were soon adorned in rainbow robes of their own.

Soon enough exams were done, trunks were packed and the students were being carted down to the village to board the train for London. Hagrid found Harry as he was stepping aboard and handed him a leather bound book. Opening the book Harry had to choke back a gasp. Looking up at him from a photo were his parents, as he turned the pages he saw them again and again, sometimes with other people, sometimes by themselves. “I got ahold of some of yer parents old friends and had them send me pictures. Knew ya didn’t have any.”

  
“Thank you Hagrid.” He almost lost his voice and just to let out some of the emotions that were choking him he threw himself up to wrap the friendly giant in as tight a hug as he could manage. It had taken all year, but he finally understood why Hermione kept doing that. It felt good.

This time on the train he was seated with friends, the twins, Hermione, and even Ron, the twins younger brother. They played exploding snap, a wizard card game in which the cards exploded, traded chocolate frog cards and chatted about summer plans. Harry finally found out something about Nicholas Flamel. He was mentioned on Dumbledore's chocolate frog card. Climbing off the train hours later even the thought of having to deal with the Dursley’s couldn’t remove his smile.


	11. Chapter 11

Back at Privet drive Harry barely stayed in the house for a day before he snuck out and returned to his hidden spot to set up his tent. He was looking forward to a long summer of study and practice. This year he might even try his luck at getting further away. He was fairly sure he would be able to get to Diagon alley at least, though he may not be able to stay in London. He might be able to stay away if he avoided any towns, which still left a large part of the country that he could explore. Before he tried any of that though he wanted to study up a bit on what to expect in the environments of Britain. He had done so at the beginning of the school year, but that was almost a year ago. He also wanted to begin the next stage of his animagus study. Which meant brewing the potion and beginning to get used to the transformation, and the feel of his animal body.

  
The potion took a week to brew and he would have to do so once a month for the next year. What Harry found most amusing about the week long process, was that the potion actually only took twenty minutes. However the mandrake leaf then had to be added and steeped in the potion for a week.

  
When it was finished, he stared at it sitting on his small table. He had been studying the attributes of his animal form for months now. He knew what to expect, and roughly how he would look. He just had to take this next step. Still he hesitated, his form was a little perplexing, and when others found out they would make assumptions about him based on it. Not to mention that it had a particular connotation at Hogwarts. “If I was going to back out at this stage, I shouldn’t even have started. And besides it really is a useful form.” He said to himself. With a long deep breath he reached out to pick up the vial.

  
A few moments later he was looking up at the underside of the table and thought to himself that he needed to clean it. He was a little shorter than he thought he would be. Though he found that with a little stretch he could still reach the seat of the camp chair. Hopping with glee he bounded around the tent for several minutes just getting used to moving in his new body. The potion would last about four hours so he had time to have a little fun before he got down to the real work of getting to know this body as well as he knew his human one.

  
Slipping out of the tent he waddled down to the stream to see if it was calm enough today to reflect, so he could get a good look at himself. While he knew his form, he didn’t know for sure if he had a solid mental picture of his coloring.

  
Luckily the stream was indeed calm enough and he sat there for a while admiring his thick ruff of fur. Unlike most members of his species his fur was mostly black, with a few brown highlights around the edges. Just like his human hair though, it stood up in odd places, and stuck out at the sides. His eyes were he thought the most remarkable though, bright almost glowing emerald which was unknown in natural members of his animal species. Small sharp teeth filled his tiny mouth, and a wide bushy tail that oddly reminded him of Hermione. Yes, he thought, I make a very odd looking badger.

A few days later he was sitting by the stream, reading one of his history books, enjoying the warm summer weather, and half watching the fishing line he had tied up. He was hoping he could catch a few fish, and thus be a little more free of the need to go shopping every few days.

  
The section he was reading concerned magical Britain's view of witch burnings, which seemed a bit arrogant. The book claimed that no witch was ever caught by the church that was obsessed with killing them. While he might accept that none of them made it to the gallows thanks to magic. Though even that seemed unlikely given how few people even tried to learn wandless magic and the ease of getting a wand away from someone if you’re determined. If a witch was caught, non magical means of killing would be just as effective as magical means. Same goes for the torture methods those people used. Still if they wanted to believe they were so much better than non-magical folk that would be what they would expect their children to believe, and thus what would be on the test.

  
He was interrupted from his contemplations by a sound of tumbling pebbles next to him. Turning to see what had made the noise he froze. A long dark scaled snake was slithering toward the water less than a handbreadth from him. Rifling through his mental library of animals took a moment, especially as most of the books he had read didn’t have pictures of the animals, only descriptions. Fortunately this was one he had a picture of a common grass snake, non-venomous. Most likely it was thirsty and would ignore him. Still it wasn’t every day that he got to watch a wild animal up close. So setting his book aside he settled down to watch the snake. The rope like creature did indeed sidle down to the water and took a long drink. Then it did something peculiar, it turned and slithered up to Harry. It coiled itself up in front of his crossed legs raised its head and spoke.

  
“Hello speaker, it has been a long time since one such as you wandered the land. What an honor it is to meet you. I am slow drinker, oldest of the nest. How may I serve?”

  
Only carefully honed self control allowed Harry to sit calmly while the snake approached and then spoke. A small panicky voice in the back of his head was screaming at him to run. However, a much larger more curious voice was wondering what he could learn from a snake.

  
“Hello, slow drinker, I am Harry Potter. I am honored to meet you as well. You are only the second snake to speak with me. I have no urgent needs at the moment, however if you could tell me about the area, what dangers are here for example I would appreciate that.”  
“Human names are strange. What is a Potter, and how can it be hairy? Ah, little matter. You are young, I am surprised your first question was not about food. Though a concern for dangers is appropriate, perhaps you have already known loss. I will instruct you speaker.”

  
It turned out that snakes got bored easily, and were concerned about things which were of little or no threat to Harry. The snake led him around about a quarter mile of the woods telling him about field mice that were good to eat, owls which would hunt snakes occasionally, though she acknowledged that he would not be on their menu. The biggest threat she mentioned was cars and trucks, which Harry had to agree with.

  
Back in his tent he went through his books looking for any mention of snake talkers, parselmouths they were called in Hogwarts a history. The founder of Slytherin House had been one. Unfortunately so had a number of dark lords through the years. Most people it seemed associated the skill with dark magic and so he knew he would have to keep the ability quiet. It wouldn’t do to give people more ammunition against him. Unfortunately his books didn’t tell him anything really useful. He would need to get to diagon alley to pick up more books.

It took a week to plan and prepare for his trip. He had decided that along with diagon alley he would also visit Godric’s Hollow where his parents had lived and were most likely buried. From there he thought he might begin his hiking trek around the country.

  
On the morning he had designated for the beginning of his journey he was jittery and jumpy. He hadn’t tried this in a while and he wasn’t sure if whatever magics that had been placed to keep him with the Dursley’s would prevent his trip to the alley. He was sure though, that he needed to get there and pick up some new books. He would need to anyway to get his school books when the list arrived, so this should be allowed.

  
The trip to London went by without difficulty, and soon he was strolling down the alley a beaming smile plastered to his face.

  
Carnock was once again stationed outside the bank and he grinned at Harry as he approached. “A rough morning to you young Potter. How fares your battle this day?”

  
“I am winning so far Carnock, though the fight has just begun. It is a bit early to be certain of the outcome, however I am confident.”

  
“Well said young Potter.” The goblin’s grin grew even wider. “Keep up the fight, I look forward to your victory.” He waived Harry inside looking to other approaching customers.

  
Inside Harry simply requested to visit his vault and was taken down. When he got into his vault however, something had changed. There was now a shelf leaning against one wall which was laden with books and several small objects. A piece of parchment was stuck to the front of it which Harry read quickly.

Harry,

  
I am writing this on your first birthday, so if somethings go differently than I expect I apologize. This shelf contains two important things. First, the objects are examples of the things your ancestors invented. We Potters have long been involved in the creation of new magics and the like. Each one is labeled so inspect them carefully. I would draw your attention to sleek eazy's hair tonic though. Invented by your grandfather to combat the Potter hair, he found that it works well for everyone and it made a killing in the market. It has to be applied daily though, so I never bothered. I leave it up to you to decide if it’s of importance to you.

  
Next the books, these are the journals of your forebears. Including my own animagus journal. Try and see if you can manage that. I’ll tell you some special secret stories if you do. Regardless these journals will help you to fully understand your family and our history. There are many secrets in these books, and many tips and tricks that will help you to become the greatest version of yourself that you can be. I urge you to read them thoroughly, they certainly helped me at hogwarts.

  
I have enchanted this shelf with a conditional charm. It will remain invisible and intangible until you receive the cloak. Unless I change my plans I will give it to you before your second year at hogwarts. That’s when my father gave it to me. I’ll tell you the same thing he told me, use it well, and have fun. Once you have it this shelf will appear. There are two other shelves enchanted in the same way. The first will appear when you have created your first enchanted object, ward, or potion. There is a letter with it explaining its purpose. The second will appear when you have created your masterpiece, the creation that propels you from student to master of your art. It can be anything, it merely must be something that causes others to recognize you as a master of your craft. I have no doubt that you will get there, simply keep going . Sometimes things will look too hard, but if you keep trying you will find that they get easier with practice.

  
I love you son,

  
James Charluss Potter

Blinking back tears Harry carefully rolled this precious scroll and placed it lovingly on the shelf. Pulling out his trunk he opened his private library and carefully moved everything from the shelf into it so he would be able to study them at his leisure later.  
Once he got himself under control again he gathered up the money he would need for his shopping and returned to the alley.

At Flourish and Blotts he picked up the complete set of standard spell books through seventh year. Along with a few supplementary history and defense books, and a book on advanced potions titled “Moste Potente Potions” which he giggled over. Why anyone would title a book like that he didn’t think he would ever understand, but then that was true of a lot of things he found in the magical world. Unfortunately he found nothing on parselmouths in the store and eventually was forced to ask the shopkeeper about the subject.  
“Parselmouths? No you won’t find anything about them in here. That’s a strange subject for someone your age, what makes you want to read about them?” The man gave Harry an inquisitive look that he wasn’t sure of.

  
“I read about it in Hogwarts a history and was curious about it. There really isn’t much about them that I could find.” He shrugged nonchalantly, as though the subject was merely one of curiosity to him.

  
“Well, if you really want to look into it you could try one of the shops down Knockturn Alley, you can find the entrance a few stores down. I would recommend against going there though, it’s a dangerous place. Lots of folks down there support the dark arts.”

  
“Oh, well darn. That’s no good. Well, thanks anyway.” He waived as he left the shop.

  
Smiling like he didn’t have a care in the world he made his way down the alley until he found the entrance to knockturn.

  
The bookstore he found shortly after entering the darker alley proved to be exactly what he needed. He found three books on parseltongue, apparently the language was called parseltongue, while those who spoke it were called parselmouths, he hadn’t been completely sure of that before. He bought all three of them, along with a few books on something called cursebreaking which looked useful as it dealt with removing curses from items and breaking down wards. It was the second that convinced him as he thought he would need to do that in order to get truly free of the Dursleys.

The train to Godric’s Hollow proved to be a little more interesting. It seemed the constabulary was looking for him and he had to sneak aboard the train and hide.

  
At the Hollow he was able to get out of the station before anyone realized he was there and made his way to where the books said his former home was.

  
The house when he found it was in tatters. Part of the roof and one wall were completely destroyed. As he approached a sign grew out of the ground.

  
In this spot on Halloween 1981 he who must not be named was defeated. This house, left in its ruined state, invisible to muggles has been left here as a monument to the Potters and the violence that tore apart their family.

  
A number of people had added various graffiti to the sign over the years. Much of which was illegible. However, he could make a few bits such as “well done Harry” and “thank you so much” and one “I’m so sorry Lilly, James.” It seemed that a lot of people had wanted to share their thoughts.

  
The graveyard a couple blocks away behind a small church took most of an hour to search. He found graves marked with names he recognised. Bones, Abbot, even Dumbledore and wondered if he had grown up here as his parents intended, would he have had friends among them?

  
Next to the first Potter he found a grave which was clearly ancient marked Peverell with an odd triangular eye scratched at the top. The eye had clearly been scratched much more recently than the name.

  
At last he found his parents graves. Lilly and James Potter. He was a little surprised to learn that his mother was older than his father, though not by much. The oddest thing he thought however was carved under each name. The last enemy to be defeated shall be death. Was carved on each headstone. Wandering about to look at the other Potter graves he found the same thing or something close to it had been carved on each headstone of a Potter.

  
“How very odd, I wonder what it means?” He asked himself reaching out to touch the words on his father's grave.

  
Back out on the road he checked around to make sure no one could see him and noting that he was clear pulled a racing bike from his pack. If anyone from #4 Privet Drive had been watching, they would have recognized the bike, as it had been Dudley’s birthday present last summer. He had promptly broken the thing, however a quick repair spell fixed that. It returned to full size as it left the pocket.

Hopping on he pedalled his way down to the local library to see what he could find out about those odd words.

  
The library turned out to be a small building with a fairly limited selection. However the librarian was quite helpful. When he had explained what he was looking for she smiled down at him and gestured to two different sections of the shelves. “You’ll find that in the holy bible of course. You can find it as well as some related reading in our religious section. You’ll also find it over there in the reference section in a few texts discussing the views and beliefs of the immortalists, a group of people who believe that immortality is achievable and the efforts they have made towards that goal.”

  
A couple of hours later, Harry was still confused, but now for a very different reason. The religious section hadn’t been any help. He had found the line in the bible and a few other books discussing various peoples interpretation of what different parts of the bible meant.

While in the section dealing with immortalists he had found a bunch of books discussing various methods that certain people had used in an attempt to achieve immortality. The oddest of which was a bunch of people freezing themselves. And he still had no idea why his family would have such words inscribed on their graves.

Naturally his new found freedom couldn’t last. When he got back to the train station there was a police bobby waiting to drag him back to the Dursleys. This time he was unable to slip away before he was caught. The trip back to privet drive was not fun.

  
At least Petunia was the only one home when they got there.

  
“We found him ma’am. He went to London by train. Then to Godric’s Hollow. Not sure why but we picked him up when he returned to the station there.” The bobby shoved Harry into the house as he spoke and pushed him onto the couch. Petunia had a sour look on her face. The copper seemed to think it was due to him having left. “Yes runaways make mistakes like that all the time, that’s usually how we catch them. Best to keep an eye on him for a while.” Harry however was sure it was due to him being on the couch. Petunia usually didn’t allow Harry to sit on the furniture. She said she didn’t want him getting his freakish filth all over everything.

  
“Well thank you for bringing him back sir. I really do appreciate it.” She attempted to give the man a cheerful smile. It looked like she had just swallowed something that was still wriggling. “I’ll be sure to keep a close watch on the boy.” She ushered the man out the door before he could say anything else.

  
“Well,” Petunia had a very angry expression, “that’s a fine lot of trouble you’ve caused. The neighbors are talking again. You just wait till your uncle gets home. You won’t sit for a week at least. I’ve half a mind to lock you in the shed and forget about you.” She dragged Harry up the stairs as she spoke, and the door to Harry’s room came into view. He started to struggle as he realized she intended to lock him in, unfortunately his struggles meant nothing. He was a small almost twelve year old, while she was a fully grown adult. She hurled him into the room and locked the door behind him.

  
He struck his head against the desk when he fell and was bleeding from the gash. He decided to deal with that first, so he pulled out his trunk and went into his library to get his first aid kit. Head bandaged he began thinking through his situation.

  
He was trapped at the Dursleys again. This time he had all of his things with him though, and if he remembered to keep the trunk shrunk and in his pocket Vernon wouldn’t be able to take it away again. The door had been reinstalled in its frame, the hinges were now on the outside. He wouldn’t be able to remove them to get out again. He would have to think of another way. There were bars across the window so going out that way wouldn’t work. And the door now had at least three locks that he had noticed, one of which was a padlock on the outside. So he couldn’t pick the lock.

  
An hour later when Vernon arrived home he was still debating about how to get away. He heard his uncle coming up the stairs. The man was so large that it seemed a minor miracle that the stairs didn’t collapse under him. He stopped outside Harry’s room and for a moment Harry wished that he would just move on. No such luck, the door flew open and Vernon squeezed his bulk through already red faced.

  
“Boy, I’ll not have it you hear me.” His face was moving past red into the purple range, Harry briefly wondered if the man could be pushed into a heart attack. “I’ll not have any of that freakishness in my house.” He held out a piece of paper for some reason. “Read it.” He had an unpleasant grin.

  
Taking the note Harry realized it was parchment, and wondered why Uncle Vernon would have gotten a letter from wizards. Looking down at the letter he saw that it contained only a few lines and began to read.

Dear Mr. Potter,

  
We have received intelligence that an unlocking charm was performed at your residence on the second of June at 12:30 am.  
Please be aware that this constitutes a breach of the reasonable restriction for underage magic code of the international statute of secrecy.

  
Any further breaches will result in your expulsion from Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry and the destruction of your wand.  
Best wishes for a good day,

  
Maphalda Hopkirk  
Ministry of Magic  
Misuse of Magic Office

“You’ll not be leaving again you hear me. You’ll stay in here except to do your chores, which you will do every day.” He had gotten so close by this point that Harry could smell the fish he had for lunch. It was not a pleasant smell, and Harry thought he must surely be looking green. “You’re never going back to that school. And if you try to magic your way out, they’ll expel you. Ha, ha, ha.” The laugh was cold and cruel.

  
When it became clear that Harry wasn’t going to talk back Vernon nodded and left the room. Harry heard the lock clicking into place and turned to bury his face in the bed.

After a week Harry was getting cabin fever. They had left him shut up in his room for hours each day. Letting him out in the morning to make breakfast and do all the cleaning and gardening, with Petunia standing over him to make sure he didn’t leave. Then again in the evening to make dinner. He was only given a can of cold soup each day for his own meal.

  
Thankfully he was able to move things in his room around enough to be able to set up his tent long enough to get his camp stove and move his food supplies so that he was able to feed himself. Unable to practice his spellwork he instead concentrated on history and theory. His summer homework was finished quickly at least, and he had finished out his notes on optional classes, enough that he was now sure of which classes he wanted to take. Although he would still need to wait another year before he could start any of those. And he wanted to talk with the professors for those classes to find out if any of them were like Bins or Snape before he signed up.

  
He tried a mental exercise of guessing who had performed an unlocking charm. He knew he hadn’t, unless it was accidental magic, which surely wasn’t punished. After all he had done lots of underage magic as a kid. He’d turned his teachers hair blue, teleported to the top of the school, even regrown his hair once. He hadn’t gotten any letters about those instances. And he had been very careful about only doing magic inside his tent so that the trace wouldn’t activate. It wouldn’t, if he was surrounded by anti-muggle charms, which the tent was. No matter how hard he thought about it though, he wasn’t able to think of anyone that would visit him so soon. He had a moment of panic that maybe it was Voldemort, but that didn’t make sense. There was no way he would know where Harry was, let alone be able to look him up in a phone book. Or even follow him. Harry felt sure that he would have noticed a great cloud of black tar like smoke floating along behind the car.

  
In a way the time here was useful, he pulled out his school books and used the time to study. He wanted to be sure that he would be able to pass the tests that Flitwick would set for him to get out of history, potions, and defence. He also wanted to get ahead of the year in theory for his other classes. Unfortunately he was really chafing at being stuck here, and having to endure the regular abuse from the Dursleys.

  
Hardly a day passed without one of them dragging him out of the room to remind him that they thought he was worthless, and that he needed to earn his keep. Petunia would force him to make breakfast every morning, though he would only get cold toast, and that after everyone else had eaten. Then she would drag him outside to weed the garden, after which he would be allowed to clean himself with the garden hose. Then he would be made to vacuum the entire house before being shoved back into his room until dinner.

  
With that in mind he pulled out the books on curse breaking he had gotten in knockturn alley. He was hoping they would be able to tell him how to break the wards that kept him prisoner here. Unfortunately it seemed it would not be so easy. There were several steps in breaking down a curse or a ward. Though the process was the same for both. First the curse/ward had to be identified, there were several spells used in this step, and the books mentioned that there were others as well, these were simply the most common. Then once the curse/ward was correctly identified he would need to begin taking it apart. Once it was down he would then need to find the power source and remove it. In the case of curse’s this was easy, once the curse was taken apart it merely took a touch of magic to prevent it from resetting. With wards however he would need to track down the ward stone or stones and physically destroy them. However if he could find the ward stone to begin with he could simply destroy the stone without having to take the ward down first. Usually you would have to do it that way because you would have to take down the ward in order to get to the stone. If it wasn’t needed to take down the ward however you could just go for the stone.

  
Unfortunately Harry had never seen anything around privet drive that could be called a ward stone, which meant the thing had to be buried somewhere on the property. That would make it much more difficult. One of the books mentioned that with enough practice he would be able to develop a sort of extra sense for magic that would allow him to detect curses and wards without the use of spells. This would take a lot of work though, and would require casting the spells many many times. He would not be able to do anything while trapped here. He would need to get out before he could begin working on that.

Another week crawled by and Harry was still no closer to finding a way out of his current situation.


	12. Chapter 12

“Now, let’s go over the plan for tonight one more time.” Vernon was looking particularly smug over breakfast. He had been planning a business dinner for tonight all week, and it was finally time. Harry ignored the conversation, he knew already what his part was. He was meant to stay in his room and remain as quiet as possible. No problem for him, he planned to use the time to continue his studies.

  
When the time came he was sent to his room with only a crust of bread and a bowl of soup for dinner. Anticipating a long night ahead he trudged into his room and listened to the locks closing behind him.

  
When he turned around however there was a funny looking little creature sitting on his bed. It was perhaps four feet tall, though this was hard to be sure of with the thing sitting on the bed. It had large ears almost like an elephants that flapped about the sides of its head, and huge tennis ball like eyes of a soft green color that looked rather pitiful. Worst of all was the things clothes, it was wearing an old, stained pillow case with holes cut out for its head and arms.

  
“Umm, hello. Who are you?” Harry kept his voice low so that it wouldn’t carry downstairs.

  
The creature hopped off the bed and began pacing. “Dobby is so happy to see you Harry Potter sir.” The thing was wringing its hands as it paced and Harry wondered if it was even aware of what it was doing. There was a purpling bruise on one side of its head, and it had a slight limp.

  
“Well then, hello Dobby. It’s nice to meet you. I don’t mean to be rude, but I am unfamiliar with your species. What are you?”

  
“Dobby is a house elf Harry Potter sir.”

  
“A house elf,” Harry scratched his chin for a moment, “nope, not ringing any bells. What’s a house elf, and more importantly what brings you to visit me?”

  
“We house elves is slaves Harry Potter sir. We does the work wizards is not wanting to be doing Harry Potter sir. But that is not why Dobby is here sir, no. Dobby is here to warn Harry Potter. There is a plot Harry Potter sir, a plot to make most terrible things happen at Hogwarts this year. Harry Potter must not return to hogwarts.”

  
“A plot to make something bad happen at hogwarts? That’s no good, what kind of plot? I may be able to prevent it if you can tell me enough about it.”

  
“Dobby can not sir. House elves can not reveal their master's secrets. If master knew Dobby was here.” Dobby suddenly slammed his head against the wardrobe in the corner of the room.

  
“Dobby stop that.” Harry quickly grabbed the little elf and held on until he stopped struggling. “Why would you do that Dobby?”

  
“Tis part of the house elves enslavement sir. Dobby thought ill of his family and so he had to punish himself.”

  
“Is that how you got that bruise on the side of your head?”

  
“Oh no sir, that’s where the master had to remind Dobby of his place sir. The master is very concerned about appearances sir, and Dobby spoke out of place.”

  
“Wow, and I thought my life here was bad. Well, do me a favor Dobby and wait until you leave here to do any kind of punishment.” He watched the little elf closely until he nodded to show his understanding. “Thank you Dobby, I don’t like to see such things. Now what can you tell me about this plot?”

  
“Only that there is a plot sir, and that Harry Potter must not go to hogwarts.”

  
“Hmm, there’s a real sticking point. I’m pretty sure that if I didn’t show up on the first of September for the feast someone would just come and take me there. Making any effort to not go meaningless. And the only injury they would accept as a reason not to be there would be if I was dead, so unless you plan to kill me yourself…?” He trailed off slowly.

  
“Oh no sir no. Dobby remembers what it was like under he who must not be named. We house elves were treated like vermin sir, of course Dobby is still treated like vermin. But what can be done for Harry Potter. For Harry Potter is too good, too important to all of us lesser beings sir. Harry Potter made the dark lord go away, and life has improved for my kind, mostly.”

  
“Well, unless you can tell me more about what’s being planned I’m not sure. Hmm, what if you were freed, could you tell me then?”

  
“If Dobby were free sir, Dobby could do whatever he liked. But the master will never free Dobby sir, there is no hope.”

  
“So I couldn’t free you? Or even just buy you maybe?”

  
“Oh no sir, only the master can free Dobby. And if Harry Potter sir bought Dobby, and then freed Dobby, Dobby would just return to master.”

  
“Damn thats no good. Wait, wizarding world, things work funny. How would your master free you?”

  
“House elves is freed by giving us clothes Harry Potter. The family is careful not to pass Dobby even a sock.”

  
“Wait, the family? So if any member of the family passes you any item of clothing you would be free?”

  
“Yes Harry Potter. That is correct sir.”

  
“Okay, does the family have a kid at hogwarts?”

  
“Yes Harry Potter.”

  
“And can you tell me who that is? I can think of a few ways to trick them into passing you something, but I would need to know who to trick.”

  
The little guy hung his head. “Dobby can not sir. Dobby is forbidden.”

  
“Damn, can you give me a hint at least?”

  
Dobby began to shake his head but stopped. He looked up, a mischievous grin on his face. “Last year Master's son's nose was broken by Harry Potter.”

  
Harry smiled his own mischievous smile. “Okay, stay close to Draco as much as possible, and let me know when you’re there. I’ll get him to drop some clothes as often as possible. WIll it work if you catch something dropped from his hand?”

  
“Maybe Harry Potter, maybe.” Dobby sounded happy and hopeful for the first time since Harry had met him. “You would really do that for Dobby.”

  
“Of course, slavery is a terrible thing. It shouldn’t be allowed.”

  
“Oh thank you Harry Potter, thank you.” These words were cried out in such a loud, ringing voice that the noise from downstairs suddenly stopped.

  
“Oh crap. Dobby you need to leave now. Go quickly, if the Dursleys see you there’s no telling what they might do.”

  
“Yes Harry Potter sir, yes.” With a final parting smile Dobby nodded and vanished.

  
A minute later the door opened and Vernon pushed his way into the room. “What do you think you’re doing boy?”

  
Harry, lying on the bed reading one of Dudleys old school books looked over. “Reading, uncle Vernon. Being as quiet as possible. Why?”

  
“What was that noise?”

  
“What noise? That loud voice a moment ago? Not sure, I thought it came from downstairs. Maybe it was next door.” He shrugged and turned back to the book.

  
“You hear me boy, if there’s any more noise you won’t eat for a week.” He left then and returned to his guests.

  
Harry made a rude gesture towards the door, and replaced the old book with one of his new school books. He spent the rest of the night in quiet contemplation.

The next few days were almost pleasant. Despite the interruption Vernon had gotten the large order he had anticipated, and the Dursleys were discussing the possibility of purchasing a second home. He wondered if they spent enough time there if that would break the ward keeping him trapped here.

  
“We’re going to visit Marge boy.” Vernon had shoved his way into the room again and was glaring down at Harry who was once again lying on the bed with a book. “You will be staying here. We’ll be back in a day or two.” He grinned apparently waiting for Harry to talk back.

  
When it again became clear that Harry had learned better than to blow up at the obnoxious man he turned and left.

  
A few minutes later the car pulled out of the drive and the family was gone. With no one around to hear it, he finally let his rage at the injustice of it all, out. He screamed, he ranted, he grabbed the broken chair sat at his desk and threw it at the wall.

  
He stopped, some of the rage left him at last. There quivering slightly, and stuck in the wall was a leg from the chair. It had broken through the drywall, and suddenly Harry realized how he could escape. How did it not occur to him before. The walls of the house were made of a fairly soft substance meant to keep heat in rather than prevent breakage. With a little effort he could easily tear out a bit of wall.

  
Debating a little he decided to wait until after night so he could move more easily once he was outside. Though in the interest of being prepared he would get everything ready first.

  
It took a couple of hours to break open enough wall for him to squeeze through to the next room, which turned out to be Dudleys.

  
When he exited to the upstairs hallway he noticed that there were now three locks on his door, the regular door lock, a deadbolt, and a padlock. Shaking his head he went down to the kitchen and pulled out his trunk. This time he decided to take everything he could. With that in mind he cleared out the pantry, took down pots and pans, mixing bowls, utensils, and finally cleaned out the fridge.

  
Next he went upstairs to Vernon and Petunia’s bedroom and gave it a thorough search. He found a few hundred pounds squirrelled away in various places that he pocketed, and best of all he found the hunting rifle Vernon had purchased a couple years ago in the hope that it would scare off the wizards trying to get Harry to go to hogwarts. There wasn’t much ammo for it, but he figured he could find a way to get more later, so into the trunk it went.

  
In Dudleys room he initially thought he wouldn’t find anything. He was surprised when he found another hundred pounds hidden in Dudleys sock drawer. After some thought he decided to go ahead and take the television and nintendo, along with all the games. Even if he got no use out of it, he would enjoy the thought of poor ickle diddy dums whining about not having his favorite shows to watch, or getting to blow up aliens.

  
A bit more careful thought about what might be useful and he decided to go ahead and take aunt Petunia’s jewelry, he could use it to get some practice enchanting, and would be able to sell it in the wizarding world without worrying about someone realizing it was stolen.

  
Finally he went out to the garden shed and took all the gardening tools as well as the seeds and bulbs that would be used to start new plants later. He would be able to use them to start his own greenhouse if he could find a place to set one up. Or maybe he would just get some planter pots for the tent.

  
With everything gathered he realized that it was already dark. He didn’t notice the sun setting, but given how dark it was, it must have been at least an hour ago. He debated with himself about his last act here. He didn’t know if it would take down the wards, but it would definitely send a message. Finally he nodded, and reaching into his pocket he pulled out the box of kitchen matches and lit several oily rags which he dropped around the lower floor of the house. Standing in the backyard he whispered, “goodbye.” And finally he turned to leave.

The dream began as it always had. Albus Dumbledore had been enduring this nightmare several times a year for almost as long as he could remember.

  
It began innocuously enough, little Arianna playing in the yard. Exploring her accidental magic, making her toys fly. It quickly turned dark, three faceless figures broke through the hedge and attacked. Sometimes they would throw stones, sometimes they had sticks, always she would cry and beg them to stop.

  
The dream would shift, his father in a cage, in the worst hell the wizarding world had ever dreamed up. It had originally been meant for only the worst criminals. He didn’t know when they decided to start using it for everyone. No one ever left it fully sane, most never left at all, his father hadn’t.

  
The dream would shift again. Arianna was angry about something. She flew apart into the black smoke. He had only seen it twice in his life, it had terrified him both times. He hadn’t been there that day, he never really knew what happened. But he saw it often in the dream. His mother came, she tried to calm his sister. But Arianna was too angry, sometimes a green light flew out of the mass of cloud, sometimes the cloud ate her, always she died.

  
The dream would shift again. The worst scene came. Gellert smiled at him, he whispered soft words, he wrapped Albus in his arms. Then Aberforth came and the fight began. Spells flew, words followed, until Arianna came. A spell hit her, sometimes it was Gellerts, sometimes it was his own, once it was Aberforth’s.

  
For years he had awoken screaming at this point, then more came. The last fight with Gellert when he had claimed the wand. One of his fights with Tom. The deaths of the Potters. Even leaving young Harry on the Dursleys doorstep had made an appearance.

  
He regretted so many things that had happened in his life. Most he had no control over, and even those he did, he had only partial control. Then there were the things like leaving Harry with his relatives. There had been no good options, and he had to choose from a plethora of bad. The best choice would have been to leave him with his godfather, but Sirius had made a horrible mistake and run afoul of Barty Crouch.

  
He was pondering these thoughts as he turned to attempt to sleep again when he was pulled from his slumber by an alarm. Jerking awake he rolled out of bed to see what was happening.

  
One of the wards at privet drive had gone off. There was a fire.

  
“Fawkes.” He called for his phoenix. The bird flew to him and in a flash they were gone.

  
On privet drive only a few people were awake to see the fire begin to grow. Before the first moved to grab their phone and call for assistance a man appeared in front of the house. He looked around noting each of the neighbors who were watching before lifting his wand.

  
With a wave the fire was banished, another wave and the house was repaired.

  
It took a few minutes to catch each of the neighbors who had seen anything and alter their memories. In the process he learned that the family had left that afternoon, which meant no one had been harmed. Most likely they had left the stove on or some other silly muggle thing.

  
He investigated quickly to insure it wouldn’t happen again and that the wards were undamaged. He was appalled at what he found.

  
There was a cupboard tucked under the stairs with a lock on it. Checking inside he found a child’s cot, crayon drawings on the walls, and some writing which read, Harry’s Room. Upstairs there was a room with a padlock on the door. Throughout the house there were photos of the Dursleys, but not one of Harry. There were also several places where things were obviously missing.

  
Collapsing onto the couch he hung his head into his hands. “What have I done?” His voice was wracked with grief. “It’s Tom all over again. No wonder he wouldn’t look at me. If they would lock him in, force him to live in a cupboard, what else would they do. What would that lead him to. He is our best hope when Tom returns and I left him to this. The wards I left to insure that he couldn’t be kidnapped, if he ever made an effort to get away they would prevent it. Every effort he made to let someone know would fail. I have to find him, I have to apologize. Fawkes.”

Harry of course, knew none of this. He was back in his hidden place in the nearby woods, back in his comfortable tent enjoying a late dinner and preparing for bed.

  
He was just finishing putting his dinner dishes onto the drying rack when the tent flap opened and in walked the most unlikely person Harry thought he would see before returning to Hogwarts. Headmaster Dumbledore stood in the entrance to his tent, wearing a violently purple robe and what looked like a sleeping cap.

  
“Good evening Harry.” The man sounded tired, and perhaps a bit sad. “May I ask you to sit and speak with me?”

  
Not sure what to do, Harry nodded and gestured to the table. “I’d offer tea sir, but I just finished putting everything away. I can get it back out though if you want.”

  
“That’s alright Harry. Please sit.” He pulled out his wand and with a wave transfigured the camp chair into a large comfy looking armchair. Settling himself into the chair he waved his wand again and summoned the teapot and cups. He quickly added water and leaves, then heated it with another wave of his wand. “I need to apologize to you Harry.”

  
“I, what sir?” He hadn’t just heard that. An adult, apologize, to him. He must have misheard the headmaster.  
“Yes Harry, you heard me correctly.” Harry started briefly, did the headmaster just read his mind? “Body language and expressions Harry. I don’t read minds if I can avoid it. WIll you allow me to tell you a story? I promise it is not long.”

  
Harry chanced a quick look at the mans face. It was a risk looking at an adults face, sometimes they would get angry, more often they would show compassion or interest. That was more dangerous than anger. Anger he knew what to do about, compassion usually got him in trouble. He had trusted too many people really. Before he could get too lost in thoughts though, he nodded.

  
“Thank you Harry. This story takes place almost eleven years ago. It was Halloween, a cold, dark night. I received a message that Voldemort had attacked you and your parents. Regrettably I arrived too late to help your parents. You however were still alive, and somehow Voldemort was gone. I brought you to Hogwarts and had you checked out. Once Madam Pomfrey declared you healthy however I had a problem. I couldn’t keep you myself, and none of your magical relatives was suitable. The best possible choice for you was with your mother’s sister.”

  
“Aunt Petunia?” He knew he shouldn’t interrupt, but it was just too surprising. How could aunt Petunia have been the best choice?

  
“Yes Harry, given the information I had at the time, yes. I knew that Petunia had been jealous of her sister. But I thought that she would have put that aside. And more importantly that she would not carry her resentment over to an innocent child. I learned tonight that I was wrong. I have just come from number four privet drive. I think you can guess what I found.” He smiled gently down at the messy haired wizard, and Harry felt a tightness grip his stomach. What would the headmaster do now he wondered. “I have sent some friends of mine to finish setting the house to rights. While I think I can understand what happened and why, I must urge you not to take any further revenge against the Dursleys. At least not directly, I believe there are some legal actions you may be able to take against them. However you would have to speak with a muggle solicitor about that.”

  
A lump was forming in Harry’s throat. Did the headmaster mean what he thought? It seemed he did not intend to hand Harry over to the police. Was he finally to be free?

  
“There is a ward I placed on the house. Well several really, but the important one is this, I placed it to insure that no one could force you away. Any attempt at kidnapping would simply fail. However, it would also prevent any other attempt to remove you from the home of your relatives. I have removed that ward.”

  
“Yes!” Harry jumped up and punched the air.

  
“Well, quite.” The headmaster was smiling now, and looking at him Harry could see a twinkle in the older mans eye.

“Sorry sir. It’s just that I’ve been trying to get away from them for years.”

  
“I’m not surprised Harry. I would have done the same given what I saw in that house. Unfortunately, while I can not in good conscious allow you to wander about without adult supervision, I don’t know of any family that would be both willing to take you, and able to care for you properly. I am not familiar enough with the Grangers, or the Weasleys both of whom’s children I believe you have befriended. I am therefore at a loss for what to do.”

  
His eyes seemed to make this last statement a question, and Harry opened his mouth. “Well sir, I’ve been studying wilderness survival. And I’ve been living in my tent here for the last two summers. I can get by just fine on my own. Maybe you could just have someone check up on me every couple of days?” He really hoped the headmaster would accept this compromise. He didn’t want to have to go live with people he didn’t know. That would be weird.

  
“Hmm, I hadn’t considered that option. It wouldn’t work long term. However there isn’t really a lot of time left before the start of next term. I can accept that for now. We will need to work out something else for next year though. I will have someone come by to check on you in a day or two. I hope you enjoy the rest of your summer then Harry. Good evening.”

  
As the headmaster rose from his seat Harry remembered something important. “Sir?”

  
“Yes Harry?”

  
“I just remembered. Two things. There was a house elf that visited me a few days ago. He said there was a plot from the Malfoys to make something horrible happen at Hogwarts this year. He couldn’t tell me what it was, although I might be able to get around that later. I’ll let you know if I find out any more.”

  
“Thank you Harry, that is most disturbing, but very helpful. I will see what I can find out as well.”

  
“Yes sir, the other thing is, I got a letter about an unlocking charm used at privet drive. Except it wasn’t me. I don’t know who it was though.”

  
“I’ll look into that then. I’ll see if I can get it erased from your record as well.”

  
“Thank you sir.”

  
“You are most welcome Harry. Now if that is all, it is really quite late. I’m usually asleep at this hour. I suspect you might be ready for bed yourself.” He smiled again.

  
“Yes sir, thank you sir.”

Harry did think about going to bed after Dumbledore left, but he found he was too excited about the prospect of actually being free from the Dursleys. Instead he danced around the tent, playing some rock music and eventually sat back down at the table to work out his plans for the rest of the summer.


	13. Chapter 13

The next evening brought his first visitor, who as it turned out was professor Flitwick. Who stuck around to discuss classes, what Harry had been studying, and career choices including what classes would be needed for various choices. He even played a round of chess. Harry was much pleased with the visit.

  
Also that day brought the first letter from Hermione, in which she explained that she had convinced her parents to visit. But when they got to Little Whinging they all suddenly got really scared and turned around. She wasn’t sure what happened but wanted him to know that they had tried to visit him. She also mentioned that she was getting worried that he hadn’t written back.

  
He sent a reply with Hedwig immediately. He explained about the ward that prevented him from leaving, and that if they had any plans of removing him from the Dursleys that was probably what turned them around. He wasn’t sure about earlier letters as he hadn’t received any but that he was doing well.

  
The next day he found a bundle of letters sitting on his table. A scribbled note on top of them apologising for having stolen them. It was signed, Dobby. He quickly read through them and replied to each with an explanation of why he had taken so long.

A few days later he was spending time out by the stream again. Practicing a form of meditation he had found in the library. It was an old Celtic method used by bards and druids ages ago. He had found a “fairy stone” which was just a simple river rock that had been worn smooth with a hole in it. The stone was placed on his chest above his heart as he lay back on the bank. The idea was to keep the stone in place while he thought about whatever he wanted to meditate on. In this case his animagus form. Apparently the druids would do this in order to train themselves to shapechange into animals, while bards would use the method to memorize stories and contemplate the meaning of those stories.

  
He wasn’t sure if it actually made a difference, but he did find it oddly relaxing.

  
However when he returned to his tent he found a short extremely elderly man sitting at his table sipping a cup of what looked like tea.  
“Ah, there you are. Welcome back, I’ve been waiting. Apologies for raiding your kitchen, but then seeing how you stole something from me it is only fitting. Won’t you join me for a cup?” He motioned to the empty chair at the table.

  
Laying aside his burden Harry went to the sink to wash his hands. “Seeing as I don’t recognize you, perhaps you would be kind enough to introduce yourself?” He asked as he washed up.

  
“Of course, forgive me. Where are my manners? I am Nicolas Flamel, I am here to discuss the stone.”

  
Harry's heart gave a little jump and his gut twisted. Shit, he thought. How did this guy find me? And what does he want? Trying to keep the panic off of his face he sat down and accepted the cup of tea Flamel was offering. “And what stone would that be?” He was glad to hear that his voice was steady and clear. He hadn’t gotten a lot of practice recently, but it seemed he was still able to maintain his calm demeanor when needed.

  
“Oh the one you took from the mirror. I would have thought that was obvious. But then perhaps you never knew to whom that stone belonged.” He smiled at Harry who was still struggling to keep the worry off his face. “The tracking charm I placed on it led me to your trunk.” He waived at the trunk sat in the corner by Harry’s bed.

  
“I’m not sure why this tracking spell led you here, but I guess I may have this stone. What does it look like?”

  
“Young man at this point attempting to conceal your involvement in the removal of that stone from Hogwarts is simply silly. You may have noticed that I have not asked for it’s return. You may keep the thing. While it did take close to a month to create it, the process cost almost nothing of monetary value. Besides the far greater value would be finding someone who can appreciate the use one might put the stone to, and even better, actually be able to put it to that use. Are you such a person?”

  
“You want to know if I can figure out how to use the philosopher's stone?” In his astonishment at hearing what Flamel wanted he dropped all pretense, mostly because he simply forgot to keep it up.

  
“Well if you can figure out how to make one I would be quite impressed. Seeing as how I never have.”

  
“You never..” Harry trailed off before he could finish, as he didn’t know how to finish that thought. “But I thought…” Again he trailed off, not knowing how to continue.

  
Flamel chuckled. “Yes that is most people’s reaction when they hear that. The philosopher’s stone is a myth. To my knowledge no one has ever figured out if is one that is real or not. Certainly the elixir of life exists though I don’t recommend trying it. And there are several methods of creating gold if you want to do so. The easiest of course is simple transfiguration combined with the permanence potion. Although it is rather difficult to find the recipe for that version of the permanence potion. No that stone is merely a magically active gem, as have been all the supposed Philosopher's stone’s I have ever seen.”

  
“But, if it’s all a myth. Then what can be done with the stone? I don’t understand. And why was it at Hogwarts?”

  
“Well as I said if you can figure out what can be done with the stone, and even better actually do it. That would make you an extremely valuable find.” Harry got nervous at these words. What did this old man want with him? “Should you ever figure that out, it would make you worthy to apprentice. I would offer to teach you everything I know. The last person to achieve that feat was Albus Dumbledore. As to why the stone was at Hogwarts, well because of you. With your return to the wizarding world Albus thought that he might be able to prove once and for all if old Voldy was truly gone or not. He arranged for several rumours to fly around that he would be housing the stone for a time. He assumed that if old Voldy was still around that the duel lure of the stone and you, both at Hogwarts would be enough to draw him out. It worked well I’m told although Albus was ashamed that he allowed Voldy to get too close. He assumed that Voldy would merely send in an agent. Instead he actually possessed someone and attacked you directly. A bit foolish of Albus really, but then not nearly as foolish as Voldy. He actually believed that if the philosopher’s stone really existed that I would be foolish enough to place it somewhere it could be found by anyone else. Truly the fool is arrogant. But you are being awfully quiet young man. It is rarely a good idea to allow an old man to get talking. Once we get going it’s very difficult to get us to stop.”

  
“I’m sorry sir, I’m just a little overwhelmed. I’m still processing that there is a use I could put the stone to that I need to think of. And then to learn that Dumbledore used me as bait.”

  
“Well now, not quite as bait. Though I can understand why you would see it that way. I think however that the stone was intended as bait, while you were the hook. Though perhaps that is a poor analogy.”

  
“Either way I’d end up in the fish's mouth.”

  
“True, however the bait gets eaten. The hook does not.”

  
“I think we need to move away from this idea. I’m getting sick thinking about it.”

  
“Perhaps I can interest you in a story then. I have many. I could for example tell you about the time I summoned a dragon in the middle of Paris. Or the time I defeated a sixteen foot tall mountain troll armed only with a shoelace. Or even..”

  
“Umm yes,” Harry felt that he should probably head the man off before he got too far in his list of stories. Maybe you could tell me how that stone was made?”

  
“Ahh, more educational than adventurous that story is. Very well. It begins in the lab…” The story really did turn out to be fascinating. It involved finding a piece of granite which was soaked for three days in a potion. Then it had to be spelled, then soaked again, then spelled again, then soaked again. Then it was crushed and the powder used as the base ingredient in another potion which was spelled several times then left to boil for a week as it slowly solidified into the stone which was now sitting in a drawer of Harry's desk. By the end of the story Harry had gotten out a notebook and was frantically writing down the steps and spells, unfortunately Flamel refused to give him the potion recipes until he had found a use for the stone.

  
When he finished telling his story Flamel pulled out his watch and said in somewhat tired voice. “Ah Perenelle will be after what’s left of my hair. I’m late again. Terribly sorry Harry but I must be going. I will come and visit you again, though it may be next summer before I can. Perhaps you will have found a use for that stone by then.” With that he bustled out and Harry only just recalled to wish him a good day before he left.

The remainder of the summer went by quickly. He spent much of his time in study, with regular hikes through the woods and setting up his planters with a variety of bulbs. He was growing several plants that not only looked and smelled nice, they were also useful in potions. Which also gave him a chance to practice herbology.

  
When his Hogwarts letter came he made a trip to diagon to pick up the rest of the books he would need for the year. The most curious of which was a complete set of adventure books by Gilderoy Lockhart with very odd names. They were somewhat fun to read, although he felt they were more for girls than boys, as the focus was mainly on the main character, Lockhart himself rather than the action. He managed to read them all within a week and was not impressed. If these were the textbooks for the class than whoever was teaching this year was likely even less competent than Quirrell had been.


	14. Chapter 14

Soon enough it was time to head to London and catch the Hogwarts express. Remembering what the Bobby had said about the train he decided to take a different route. He had read about the knight bus in Hermione’s wizard encyclopedia. It appeared just as described, unfortunately it was less fun to ride than it looked. At least it was fast.

  
Getting onto the platform was much easier this year, now that he knew what to do. He was ensconced in a compartment early and waiting for Hermione to arrive.

  
Watching the crowd he saw her arrive and say goodbye to her parents. They hugged her tightly and he looked away. What would it have been like if his own parents were still here, he wondered. Would his own mother hug him like that. Shaking his head, such thoughts were silly. He waited for her to look toward the train and waived to get her attention.

  
Placing her trunk in the rack he turned to get a faceful of bushy hair. “Oh Harry, it’s good to see you. I was so worried when you didn’t respond. You have to tell me all about the house elf. Did he have a name? Did he tell you why he was stealing your mail? How did you get him to stop?” As usual this was all said very quickly.

  
“Calm down Hermione, have a seat and I’ll tell you everything.”

  
Eventually, after much discussion of Dobby, their summer activities, Hermione had gone to France, apparently her family owned a second home there, and what they expected for classes this year. Hermione wasn’t pleased when Harry stated his intention to drop classes again, but she was very interested in what he had learned about career options and what classes would be needed for each. They settled into a comfortable silence, each having pulled out a book.

  
Around the halfway point of the trip a lady stopped by with a cart laden with sweets and snacks. “Anything from the trolley dears?” Not being completely sure what he would like, Harry decided to buy a little of everything so he could try it all.

  
Hermione passed on most of it when he offered to share, but she did take a pumpkin pasty, and a chocolate frog. After just a couple of tries he discarded the bertie botts every flavor beans. He couldn’t think of any reason that someone would want to eat something that over half of which tasted so horrible.

  
Sometime later the door opened and Draco Malfoy strode into their compartment like he owned it. “Potter, you’ll pay for what you did.”  
“Malfoy, no one here wants to talk to you. Go away.”

  
“No, we’re here to make you understand who’s in charge.” He motioned to his two goons, who began to move forward.  
“Stop, stop, stop.” Harry’s voice rang out, filling the cabin. His wand flashed between the three boys, who suddenly found they couldn’t move.

  
Hermione turned to look at him, still trying to get her wand out of her pocket. “How, how did you do that Harry?”

  
“Practice. I had to fight Voldemort last year, it seemed like a good idea to get better. You know, in case I have to do it again.” He stood as he spoke and moved to check on Malfoy. “Yep, frozen solid.” He tapped on Draco’s forehead.

  
“But, that spell. Where did you learn it?”

  
“Oh that. I didn’t like how long it takes to cast petrificus totalus. I mean seven syllables, takes forever. Especially in a fight. So I created a new one that casts faster. It also doesn’t last as long though. Petrificus can last up to a day or two if not reversed. Assuming I got it right, this will only last about four hours. So you idiots should be fine by the time we get to Hogsmeade.” He turned back to Malfoy. “I’ll put you in the next compartment so you’ll be comfortable. Don’t worry, I’m sure if it doesn’t wear off as expected that someone will find you.”

  
The twins showed up as he was moving the first of the three and offered their assistance. With the help of the twins the slytherins were quickly moved to the next compartment. After a short debate it was decided by all that the best place for the three buffoons was to lay them on the seats and floor. Naturally Malfoy got the floor.

  
“Hello Hermione,” twin A, Harry wasn’t sure if it was Fred or George, began. “How are you this fine day,” continued the other. “Harry we know is hexing slytherins.” “An action we can assure you we agree with completely.”

  
Hermione looked like she was getting dizzy following the two of them. Harry certainly was. “Guys, if you’re going to talk like that, at least sit down where we don’t have to turn our heads to look at you both. I’m getting dizzy, and I’m sure Hermione isn’t much better.”

  
“Sorry Harry, it’s kind of a habit.”

  
“Yeah, we get used to it, especially over the summer.”

  
“Mum hates it, and we like driving her batty.”

  
“We’ll try to tone it down around you though, because we like you.”

  
“Well thanks, I like you guys too. So I’m gonna guess that you’re wondering when we’re going to pull another prank?”

  
“It’s like he can read our minds George.”

  
“It is Fred. Although, he could just be as excited as we are.”

  
“Well, which is it young Harry?”

  
Harry was smiling broadly at this point, but he had a mischievous glint in his eye. “Well, maybe a bit of both. I wonder, how do you two feel about spending a day on the ceiling?”

  
The twins looked at each other then turned cheerful smiles to Harry. “Do you even have to ask?” They said together. “But how would we do it?”

  
I found a spell that couples with a potion. The potion takes two weeks to brew, and has to be applied to the section of floor we want to spell. Once the spell activates anyone walking across that bit of floor will feel like they are walking on the ceiling.”

  
“So it doesn’t actually make you walk on the ceiling?”

  
“There’s another one that does, but I haven’t figured it out yet. The recipe was damaged so I’ll have to rebuild it.”

  
“Can we help?” The twins leaned forward, and had the most eager expression Harry had yet seen on them.

  
“I suppose, we’ll need to work out a place. And compare schedules so we know when we can work on it. Hermione, would you like to join us?”

  
Everyone in the car turned to look at Hermione who was trying not to look like she wanted to tell a teacher about their plans. “Umm, I don’t think that sounds like a good idea. What if someone gets hurt?”

  
“The actual ceiling walking potion will only be used by those who want to. The other one can’t actually hurt anyone. It only makes you feel like you’re walking on the ceiling. Once you get used to the sensation you can walk normally. Worst case, someone throws up from vertigo.”

  
“I meant the rebuilding. Getting a potion wrong can have some pretty nasty side effects. Shouldn’t you have a fully trained adult there to make sure you don’t get hurt?”

  
“It would definitely be safer Hermione.” Harry thought it was Fred speaking.

  
“But, if we let an adult in on it, they might not let us use it.” George followed.

  
“And there’s the chance that they would try to take the credit for the work.”

  
“Adults wouldn’t do that.” Hermione was starting to sound stubborn.

  
“Snape would.” Fred said darkly, as though perhaps this had already happened.

  
Hoping to head off an argument Harry jumped in. “Okay, we’ll put that off until we know enough to be sure we won’t have an accident, or at least can deal with it properly if we do. Is that better Hermione?”

  
“Yes, much.” She had a prim proper look, and stuck her nose up.

  
After that they played a round of exploding snap before the twins moved on to find one of their quidditch team mates. “We want to prank Katy Bell before we get to hogwarts.” They shared.

When they arrived at Hogsmeade they heard the sound of Hagrid bellowing for the first years. Having already crossed the lake last year though, they were to take the carriages with the rest of the upper year students.

  
As they approached the carriages Harry stopped to watch the skeletal winged horses that were lashed to them. Creepy they were, yet with the same sort of regalness that he had seen in regular horses in the occasional parades he had seen for the faire growing up.

  
He moved to pat one of them wondering what their skin would feel like. Before his hand could reach it however he was brought up short by Hermione’s voice.

  
“Harry, what are you doing?” She was standing close to him and whispered the last bit. “Everyone’s looking at you.”

  
“What Hermione, I just want to touch one. It’s not that weird. Ok I realize it’s a little odd. They are a bit creepy, but still.” Harry tried to keep the exasperation out of his voice but feared that some of it may have leaked through. Hermione had a pinched expression as though she had just bitten into a lemon.

  
“What are you talking about Harry?”

  
“The horses.” Replied Harry motioning to the one he had been about to touch.

  
“What horse’s Harry? There’s nothing there.” With these words she lifted her hand and laid it across his forehead as though checking for fever.

  
Reaching up, he grabbed her arm and twisting laid her hand across the animals ribs. “Are you sure about that?” He bit back the urge to sneer at her. If she wanted to make fun of him she should be allowed. After all he was a freak, and it was a freaks duty to be made fun of.

  
However it being his duty to allow it did not make it enjoyable for him. So while Hermione was apparently dumbstruck at his audacity in touching her he moved around to the other side of the skeletal horse to pat it gently. “Don’t mind her, I’m sure she didn’t mean to insult you. It’s just fun to make fun of me you see.” The skin of the creature turned out to be rather leathery and thin. While soft it gave the impression of being very strong. As he stroked his hand down its side the horses wing came down and seemed to pat his own head. Harry reached up to gently stroke the appendage and found that while the wing looked rather batlike it was in fact covered with very fine feathers. “You know, despite being a bit creepy from the perspective of someone who has never seen you before. You really are quite lovely when looked at properly.”

  
He spent a few moments stroking the creature before a voice called “load up there. Get aboard.” After which he climbed into the carriage and found that Hermione was looking at the floor, and they had been joined by the Patil sisters, Padma and Parvati. Harry couldn’t figure out why they had been sorted into different houses. Padma to Ravenclaw, and Parvati to Gryffindor. Given that they were twins, it made no sense. He shook his head to clear the errant thoughts, it was none of his business what other people chose to do with their lives.

  
The twins spent the entire trip to the castle chattering about clothes, make-up, and of all things, boys. Harry was well pleased to see the castle gates draw close signalling the end of his time with the silly girls. Surprisingly though Hermione had remained silent for the entire trip. Unusual for her, normally she hardly ever stopped talking unless she was reading. But she had no books out during the trip. Harry decided to chalk it up to a Hermione thing. Perhaps she was simply enjoying the view, except he hadn’t seen her look up from the floor once.

Once inside they joined their house tables and waited for the sorting and the feast to begin. The sorting felt like it took forever, Harry only half paid attention to it. He did notice one of his new housemates, a thin wispy looking blonde girl who was pushed to the very edge of the new first years. Which placed her almost directly across the table from him. She had a dreamy sort of look to her, and slightly protuberant silver eyes. He thought he’d heard her say something about wrackspurts, but there was a lot of chatter going on, so maybe he misheard.

  
When the feast finally arrived he sank into the meal with gusto. While his culinary skills had improved vastly over the last two years he rarely had all the things he needed to make a truly savory meal. As the divine aroma and flavor of well prepared food washed over him, he allowed his awareness of the other people at the table to fade away until he could almost pretend that he was alone, enjoying his meal at his little camp table.

  
All too soon the brief fantasy ended, the food was gone and everyone was jostling back towards their common rooms. Harry found his way to his bed almost mechanically, and found when he got there that he was so tired he didn’t even take the time to change. He simply fell onto the bed and before he fully closed his eyes, was fast asleep.

The first week of classes went much the same as the first week last year. With the notable exception of Lockhart. The first defense class of the year convinced Harry that he would be unable to depend on Hogwarts for a decent education in defense.

  
The class began with a test to “see how well you’ve all read my books.” As Lockhart explained. After a quick read through Harry was disgusted. Not one question about defensive magic, it was all about Lockhart himself. He made a copy of the test to show Flitwick at his meeting to drop this class and began to answer questions.

  
He didn’t even try to get the answers correct, actually he intentionally got most of them wrong. At questions like “What is Gilderoy Lockhart’s favorite colour?” He wrote, vomit green. When he came to “What would Gilderoy Lockhart’s ideal birthday present be?” He answered, five new awards for being pretty. Which he figured was actually accurate just not in the books.

  
In transfiguration they were finally starting work on creature transformation.

Herbology had them replanting and learning about how to care for, mandrakes.

  
History, and astronomy were the same as ever.

  
Potions was horrid, with Snape belittling the students as badly as ever. Reaffirming Harry’s choice to test out again.

  
At least charms was still mostly fun.

The most exciting part of the first week came Wednesday. As he was heading to the library for his afternoon study session with Hermione he met a rather hyperactive young Gryffindor with a camera.

  
“Hello Harry, I’m Colin Creevey.” He had a high pitched squeaky sort of voice, and was bouncing slightly in place making his brown hair flap around his face. He held up his camera. “Would it be alright if, could I have a picture?”

  
“Umm, hello Colin nice to meet you.” Harry stuck out his hand and watched as the small boy looked at it like it was going to bite him. “You shake it Colin.”

  
Colin grew rather red in the face and reached out slowly. “Sorry, I, I didn’t think you would offer to shake hands. A boy on the train told me that when someone offers their hand it means they want to consider dating.” He hung his head a little.

  
“Really? That’s weird. I haven’t heard that one before. Could be one of those weird pureblood customs. Of course it could also be they were messing with you. I’ve had a few people offer to shake my hand, so I’d expect it to be the latter. Still there are several people around you could ask to be sure if you’re worried. As for a photo, why would you want a picture of me?”

  
“Oh, I’ve heard all about you. How you defeated you know who. And I wanted to show my family that I really did meet you. I’m muggleborn you see.”

  
“Thought so, most people share the view that it was me. Makes sense since I’m alive. However it actually makes more sense that my parents did something. Placed a curse on him that caused his spells to backfire, or maybe set up a really powerful protection. It’s really unlikely that I had anything to do with it. Other than being lucky enough to have parents both willing and able to do, whatever they did. But yeah, you can have a picture. Do you wanna be in it? I’m sure someone would be willing to snap one real quick for you if you want.”

  
Colin’s eyes grew to match the dinner plates and he started vibrating. He opened his mouth several times as though he was going to say something but nothing came out.

  
Harry reached up and waved his hand in front of Colin’s face. “Colin, are you okay?”

  
“Yes!” He shoved his camera into a passing students hands ran over and for a moment looked like he was considering wrapping himself around Harry. Thankfully Harry thought, he just stood next to the green eyed wizard and looked to the student who was now holding his camera. “Picture please.” He said.

  
The student shrugged snapped a photo of the two of them and handed the camera back to Colin.

“Thank you so much Harry, I’ll never forget this.”

  
“No worries Colin. Good luck in classes.” Harry waved as he continued on his way.

When the end of the week finally came and Harry had the chance to meet with Flitwick he was exceedingly ready to get out of his three least favorite classes. Bins was just as boring as ever, he had fallen asleep in both classes that week. Snape meanwhile had spent the entire first class complaining about how everyone had been happier without Harry in the class.

  
“Good morning mister Potter. How was your first week?” Flitwick had his usual smile in place and was bouncing slightly. “Come sit, have some tea. Are you still planning to test out of history, potions, and defence? Or would you like to keep one of them?” His smile grew a little wider. Harry had the impression that he knew Harry would want to drop all of those classes and was simply waiting to see if he would say anything interesting about them.

  
Without a word he handed over the test he had copied from defense.

  
Looking over it Flitwick frowned. “Remind me at the end of this meeting to make a house wide announcement about the option of dropping the class. This is a waste of everyone's time. I don’t know what Dumbledore was thinking. He could have found someone to take over potions and moved Severus to dark arts. I know he said that Lockhart was the only one to apply, but Hagrid could do a better job. At least he would have stayed on topic. Well, I doubt you will have any trouble testing out of that class. Shall we get started?”

  
“Absolutely sir. Where do we start?”

  
“Let’s get defense out of the way first.” He laid a parchment on the table. “Usual deal, you have an hour. Begin.”

  
An hour later Harry was feeling good about the test. And after grading Flitwick seemed to agree. “Full marks harry, well done. Come on over and we’ll do the practical.”

  
In another room connected to Flitwick’s office he had set up what looked like a small obstacle course. “We’ll use most of this later for your dueling training. You’ll need to build reaction time and reflexes, along with dodging skill. For today though we’ll just be using the target dummies.”

  
Another hour was spent going through every spell Harry knew for defence. He wasn’t quite as tired as he had been last year after this exercise, which was surprising as he hadn’t done even a third as many spells last year.

  
“Well done again mister Potter. Your dueling lessons I expect will be most enjoyable. And come summer again, the British junior dueling tournament won’t know what hit it. I can’t wait. So let’s keep occupied. Potions or history next?”

  
“Either is fine with me sir. Flip a coin I guess. Or whichever you prefer.”

  
“Hmm, I have a thought about history, let’s do that next.”

  
Back in the main office Harry spent another hour filling out the test.

  
“Yes, just as I thought.” Flitwick was bouncing again with an extra wide smile. You have just passed this exam Harry.”

  
“What does that mean?” Harry tried to keep the worry off his face. He really didn’t want to be stuck in Bins class.

  
“This is the fourth year exam Harry. You are almost a year ahead of your year mates. Keep up the study pace and I think you’ll be able to take the OWL next year in history. I’ll even tell you a secret. Though you may have already figured it out. At OWL level you need to be more concerned about the events rather than the dates. At NEWT level you need to know the dates, but at OWL, the examiners really only care about whether you have learned what happened, and what we learned from it. So pay attention to those things in your studies.”

  
“I, I will sir, thank you.”

  
“Excellent Harry. Alright, let’s get that potions exam out of the way. Then we can discuss the schedule for your dueling training.”

  
The theory part of the potions exam was actually easier than last year, though he still got just under full marks. Good enough to pass, and avoid Snape for a few more months, but still below where Harry wanted to be.

  
The practical was a little different though. “Now, I saw that you were doing some brewing over the summer. What would you say was the most complex potion you brewed?”

  
Harry had to think for a minute on that. He had made several brews, but most of them he didn’t want to tell anyone about just yet.

Eventually he said, “umm, I think it was a sensory improvement draft. I wanted to dial up my sense of smell when I was picking flowers for my planters. I wanted to be sure I was getting the ones I liked the smell of best. Of course it took me about half the time the potion was active just to get used to it enough to be able to pick out individual scents from the cacophony of aromas, but I got there in the end.”

  
“Ooh, well done mister Potter. Most students don’t attempt that one until the third year. Well, you should find this one fairly easy then. I’d have you brew a sensory potion, except I don’t have the ingredients here. I’ll try to have a greater supply next time.”

  
The brew he wanted turned out to be skele-gro. A complex and fiddly potion which required a steady hand. Fortunately Harry had brewed it over the summer and was confident of his ability to get it right. His first attempt had been correct, but not very strong. This second attempt came out better, though he thought it was still a little shy of perfect. Flitwick though, declared it a success.

  
Harry had wanted to mention that he had learned that his some number of great’s grandmother had been the one to invent the skele-gro potion. However it was a complex enough brew that he decided not to mess with his concentration, and instead decided to mention it later.

  
After that as promised they sat down to hash out the schedule for his dueling lessons. They decided on two days a week. Wednesday and Saturday as these were the days when Flitwick had the most time. With Harry’s schedule already being fairly open due to three of his classes being dropped he could fit in the time almost anywhere.

  
As he was packing up to leave the office he remembered. “Oh professor, you wanted me to remind you about making a house wide announcement about testing out of defence.”

  
“I did, thank you mister Potter. Speaking of, I was curious if you had thought about trying out for quidditch? I understand our house team is looking for a few new players. I’ve seen you out flying a few times. You seem quite comfortable on a broom.”

  
“Umm, no sir. I hadn’t thought about that. Should I?”

  
“Well, you should never do anything just because someone else wants you to, obviously. However, a great many people enjoy the game, both playing and watching. Being on your house team I understand grants some bragging rights among the students. However perhaps most importantly it improves your situational awareness. During the game you have to be aware of a lot of things happening around you. What your fellow players are doing, where the balls are and so on. It also helps improve your reflexes as you have to dodge players and balls sometimes constantly for a minute or so. Which will help you in dueling just as much. So I would recommend trying out. If you get a position you can use it to your advantage in a variety of ways.”

  
“Okay, sounds like a good idea. And it might even be fun. When are tryouts?”

  
“Ravenclaw tryouts will be next Saturday, just after lunch.”

  
“I’ll be there, thank you professor.”

  
“You are most welcome mister Potter. Enjoy the rest of your day.”


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trying something different with formatting, per a request. Not sure I like it myself, but if I were only writing for me, I wouldn't bother posting. Let me know what you think, if the reception is positive, I'll continue with the new format.

After lunch that day Hermione approached Harry in the entrance hall with a sad look on her face. Her hair seemed a bit more bushy than normal as though she hadn’t tried to tame it at all for the past week. “Harry, can I talk to you for a minute?” Her voice in contrast to her hair was very small and quiet.  
“Sure Hermione what's up?” He replied motioning down the hall towards the library, their usual spot.

“I, I wanted to apologize Harry. I couldn’t see that horse thing at the carriage and I treated you badly. I looked it up when we got back. I think it was a thestral, a type of winged horse that can only be seen by people who have seen death. To see them you have to have seen someone die. So I couldn’t see them, and I just assumed the carriages moved by magic. Which in a way I guess they do, just not the way I was thinking. Can you forgive me Harry?”

“There’s nothing to forgive Hermione. I don’t mind that you didn’t believe me. And that's really cool that only certain people can see them. I wonder why that is, and is there a way around it? Something you could do that would allow you to see them even if you hadn’t seen death. Maybe Hagrid would know. We could ask him, he’s invited us down for tea tomorrow.”

Hermione had a sort of sad smile and she reached out to hug Harry rather more slowly than she usually did. “Thank you Harry. I still feel bad about what I did though. I should have just listened to you. If there’s anything I can do to make it up to you, just let me know, okay?”

Harry shrugged helplessly, he didn’t know of anything he needed or wanted that he didn’t think she would offer anyway. “Okay Hermione, I’ll keep that in mind if anything ever occurs to me.” Not being sure what else to do he patted her gently on the back.

He wasn’t really sure what that had all been about, but it seemed things were back to normal anyway, before he had even realized that they hadn’t been. So he decided not to worry about it.

Hagrid was waiting for them at the gate to his pumpkin patch. He had a large picnic basket and his crossbow in hand. “Hello there Harry, Hermione. How’s your first week been.” He smiled broadly as he spoke, his beetle black eyes glowing with cheer. “Come on then, we’ll go for a walk today. There’s something I wanted to show you.”

He strode off into the woods. The two friends looked at each other and shrugged. They had done this a few times last year after a bit of cajoling, and it had usually been fun. With a slightly uneasy giggle they hurried after him.

They didn’t go far today before Hagrid stopped and pointed to a nearby tree. “There you go, have a look at that.” Looking closer they saw a large lizard sitting on a branch randomly grabbing up insects with its tongue. It had a smooth look to its brown body, and it was shaped slightly like an iguana, except that it didn’t have the long tail or spines common to the larger lizard.

“That’s a moke, magical lizard. Uncommon around here, usually find them further south. Their skins are prized for bags. They shed you see, bit like a snake. And when properly treated and spelled they make a bag that only its owner can see. Those are rare them. Only a few people know how to do it right, and you have to get the skin right after it’s been shed. I’ve been watching this one for a couple days now. It’s really tricky trying to guess when they’ll shed. I’m hoping to catch it at the right time. I know a guy who can make them bags you see.”

“It really is a lovely lizard Hagrid.” Harry said as Hagrid stopped to take a breath. “What is it eating though?”

“Oh, termites. They’ll eat any kind of insect really, but their favorite is the termites that infect wand trees.”

“Wand trees?” Hermione squeaked. “Hagrid is that a wand tree?”

“Well, wand quality. Not all trees have wood that’s good for wands. You can tell the ones that do by looking for bowtruckles. Look up there a few branches above the moke.”

Peering closely at the upper branches they could see what looked like leaves dancing in the breeze. Except they were dancing the wrong way. Hagrid suddenly stood in the way reaching up. When he turned he was holding a small creature that looked rather like a walking tree branch.

“Here you go. A closer look is best. Be careful getting too close though. They don’t usually attack, but when they do. They go for the eyes, and their claws are really sharp.”

Knowing that Hagrid didn’t always count danger the way they did the students decided to be very cautious. They still got a good look at the small creature though.

“Their friendly enough. They mostly eat larvae, or faerie eggs. And if you ever need to gather wood from one of their trees its best to offer them some of either. They’ll leave you alone if you do.”

After a few minutes of discussion about the creatures, Hagrid proved to be very knowledgeable. They pulled out the picnic that Hagrid had brought. It turned out to be egg salad sandwiches and a large steaming pot of tea. The three spent a pleasant couple of hours chatting about classes and the various features of the forest around them. Hagrid knew just as much about the non-magical animals in the forest as he did the magical, and they had fun identifying the birds that randomly flew by or tried to steal their lunch.  
As they were packing up to head back to the castle Hermione jumped and shrieked. There was a small black furred thing trying to climb her leg. It had what looked like a duck’s bill and broad paws with sharp little claws.

After her initial reaction Hermione tried to stay as still as possible. “What is it Hagrid?” Harry was pleased to hear only a slight quaver to her voice.

Hagrid chuckled, he reached over and plucked the thing off of Hermione's hip. He held it up for the two to get a better look at. This here is a niffler. Spry little buggers aren’t they? Go on give him a pat. Perfectly safe.”

The two friends shared a look and slowly moved forward to touch the niffler. It sniffed at Harry’s watch as he reached out and nuzzled his hand. Its fur was soft, and it wriggled around clearly wanting to escape the giants grasp.

“Its cute.” Hermione said, clearly less afraid now that it wasn’t climbing up her leg.

“I think it’s trying to steal my watch.” Added Harry, laughing.

“Aye it probably is. They like shiny things nifflers. They hoard them you see. Treasure hunters often keep them as pets, as they can smell valuables. They sniff out treasure see. Make terrible pets though, they wreck houses.”

Having completed their inspection the students stepped back. Hagrid smiled at them. “See perfectly safe.” Turning the niffler so he could look it in the eye he continued. “Alright you, we’ve got nothing you want, so off you go.” He set the creature on the ground and shooed it away. “Alright, back to the castle come on.”

The trip back was blissfully uneventful.

After they parted from Hagrid Hermione turned to look at her messy haired friend. “I’m almost surprised he didn’t take us to visit Norbert.” She gave a little shake. “I’m glad though. He’d be almost full grown by now.”

“Yeah just about. Hagrid said he has a dragon expert coming to visit. Apparently Norbert has been getting more violent in the last month or so. He asked if I would come and visit though. He wants to get Norbert used to students so they can have the upper years taking care of magical creatures meet him.”

“Oh, you aren’t going to are you?”  
“Actually I was thinking of it. It would be kind of cool to see a dragon up close, and you really can’t get a better excuse to ask about dragons in general. I still haven’t decided for sure what I want to do after school, and dragon tamer is one of the available options.”

Hermione just stared at him her jaw hanging open.

The next week flew by and before he knew it the quidditch trials were upon him. The day was bright and clear, if a bit windy. And he was hardly alone heading down to the pitch. Almost two thirds of Ravenclaw house showed up for the trials. All of Harry’s roommates showed, though apparently only three of them were trying out. Along with most of the upper years.

Roger Davies, the team captain, was already yelling loudly when Harry got there. “Alright, line up over here. Nice and orderly there come on. Lot’s to get through.” Once everyone was in line he continued. “Okay, now most of you know that we already have a full team. However we’re still holding full trials. There’s always the chance that we’ll find someone even better than we are. So first thing let’s see how you all fly. I’m going to break you into groups of ten. Once you’re in your groups one group at a time will fly down to the far goal posts and back as fast as they can.”

It only took a few minutes to get the groups lined up. And soon enough the first group was speeding towards the goals.

Harry was in the third group, but found himself watching the other interested parties. He hadn’t decided yet which position he was most interested in, except that he was sure he didn’t want to be a keeper. He thought that chaser would be the most fun, but that he might be better suited as a seeker. Though there was something visceral he felt about wielding a club as a beater.

When it was his groups turn he took his position with the others and heard a few admiring whispers about his broom. He had dusted off the nimbus 2000 he had found last year, then written his own name on the handle and added some scratches to make it less obvious that he hadn’t ridden it before. When someone asked he claimed that he had purchased it over the summer and had practiced a little in the woods near his house. Which he explained was how it had gotten scratched up.

Mounting his broom he waited. When Davies gave the signal he kicked off. This was of course the first time he had flown this particular broom, and he was amazed at how easily it handled. The acceleration was simply incredible, before he knew what was happening he was three broom lengths ahead of everyone else in his group and he wasn’t really even trying. Wanting to do well he leaned forward and poured his concentration into pushing the broom as fast as it would go. The wind pulled his hair back and stung his eyes, but he could tell he was going faster than he ever had before. It was thrilling, in only a few moments he was at the far goals and turning. Here he found a small problem, while the broom was fast it didn’t corner especially well. It took almost the entire width of the pitch to get the broom pointed back at the starting point he needed to return to. The others had nearly caught up when he started back. The speed of the nimbus however still had him landing back in front of Davies before the rest of his group was even halfway back.

Nodding to Davies he said, “I think I could have done better there. I haven’t had much practice turning at that speed yet. Was that good enough?”

Davies raised one eyebrow. “Yeah, that was pretty good Potter. Not yet enough to get on the team, but definitely enough to move onto the next stage. How long have you been flying a nimbus?”

“Oh, I only got it at the end of July. I could fly a little in the woods near my house, but not much. I don’t have access to a pitch, and can’t go above the trees. Someone would notice.”

“Fair enough, well if you don’t make the team this year, be sure to try again next year. If you do make it, we’ll get you as much time to practice as you need.”

The next stage of the trials was flying formations. Davies lined people up and had them fly a pattern around the pitch. He explained to those still new to the game that his was how the chasers played. So anyone interested in that position would have to be able to do this. However as the beaters and seeker couldn’t stick to patterns it wasn’t necessary to make the team. Which Harry decided was a good thing, as he had a lot of trouble staying to the pattern, especially when there were other flyers next to him in formation.

Davies then handed everyone a bat and had them fly into the air. He then handed everyone who hadn’t made it past the first stage a basket of tennis balls. The idea was to see who had the coordination to be a good beater. They had to try to hit the tennis balls with the bats. Harry turned out to be good at this, but not quite as good as several others.

Next was the keeper’s place. Davies had everyone who was interested take a turn at blocking the goals. Harry sat that one out but enjoyed cheering with everyone else.

The last stage of trials was obviously for the seeker position. Again Davies had everyone interested line up to try all at once. He had a basket full of golf balls for this trial. He explained that he would throw the balls into the air and all those who wanted the position would have to try to catch them.

Five hopefuls flew into the air. Harry only recognized one of them. One of his roommates, Terry Boot he thought. The other three were older, though he thought one of the girls might only have been a year ahead of him.

Davies sent a ball flying high into the air and the chase was on. Harry leaned forward and poured on the speed. However, he found himself being edged to the side by Boot. “It’s mine Potter. You should go back home.”

Not being entirely sure what to do in this situation Harry tried to maneuver away and take a different course. Unfortunately while he was fighting to get away from Boot one of the girls caught the ball.

He quickly moved away from Boot before the next ball was thrown so as to avoid another such occurrence.

The next ball flew almost directly at Harry and he almost panicked as he saw four people flying directly at him looking very determined. Until he saw the ball. Forgetting about the other hopefuls he aimed his broom at the tiny white ball and reached for it. The five of them all got it at the same time.

Harry reached out to grab the whirling little thing and four other hands wrapped around his. There was a short mid air struggle as everyone tried to claim the grab for themselves. However no one was able to wrestle the ball away and Harry finally held his hand high to show that he had gotten it.

Twenty balls later the final count was given. Terry Boot had caught one ball. He had spent so much time trying to prevent Harry from catching them that the only one he got was when one actually smacked him in the head. Both of the older boys had caught three. One of the girls had caught two. The other who Harry thought was called Cho Chang and was indeed only a year ahead of him had caught five and Harry had managed six.

“Well done everyone.” Davies called out as everyone was jostling around to chat with their friends. “I’ll have the results posted on the house board tomorrow. Good night.” And he left the field.

On the way back up to the castle Harry was sure he could hear a few people saying that he had only done so well because he had a better broom than almost everyone else.

Worse though was back in his room in the tower where he had to listen to his roommates complaining loudly about how they had been shown up by a talentless, scar headed loser. Who only did so well because he happened to have an expensive broom. And how if he got a position it would only be because Davies felt sorry for him for not having a family.

Rather than argue with them, Harry slipped into his private library to read some of his family journals. Which proved to be more difficult than he had expected, as he kept having to wipe away tears. Apparently, he was not so unconcerned with how others thought of him then he had at first thought. Even if he was a freak.


	16. Chapter 16

“Is it ready?” Fred asked looking into the cauldron. It had taken a week for the twins to find a room they could use to brew the anti-gravity potion. They had four brewing stations set up. The first they used to brew the potion they would use for their prank. Which they agreed to set up in the charms corridor, and Harry had decided to tell Flitwick about. Flitwick had giggled wickedly when he was told, and agreed that it would be a good prank.

The other three stations were dedicated to their efforts towards recreating the potion that would allow them to actually walk on the ceiling. They had the spell and the ingredients. However the brewing method had been damaged so they were trying various methods in an attempt to determine how to properly make it.

“Almost, it just needs to set for about four hours. It will be ready for the application tonight.” Harry replied to Fred.

George took up the thought. “And it will last for approximately a day. Which means everyone who has charms tomorrow will get hit.”

“This calls for a celebration. Harry some music if you please.” The twins had grown to appreciate Harry’s choice of music, as well as his habit of playing it while brewing. And were now requesting songs they had particularly enjoyed regularly. Harry reached over and activated the magical music recorder filling the room with Madonna’s like a virgin. Which made all three of them fall over in a fit of giggles. It seemed a bit fitting for the moment, as this was to be their first complete prank together, as the one they had planned last year had been interrupted.

The next day was even better. Most people who got caught in the trap didn’t know what to do. Every few minutes someone would stop and look around. A few even fell over and clung to the floor, looking for all the world as though they expected to fall off it if they didn’t. Harry himself found that he rather enjoyed the sensation after a moment to acclimate, and was seen detouring several times throughout the day just to stroll along the corridor.

Not everyone found the experience amusing though. When Filch happened upon it, he threw a fit and declared that when he found whoever was responsible he would hang them up by their ankles in the great hall, for a week. Snape threatened a months worth of detention, and even Mcgonagall stated that she would have to take points from the perpetrators if she caught them.

However, Harry’s favorite part of the prank actually had nothing to do with the potion, or commotion. Rather it was the method the twins used to insure that they wouldn’t get caught. They showed Harry just before the three set out to apply the potion.

Fred held out a yellowed piece of parchment and explained. “It’s a map of Hogwarts. It shows where everyone is. You just touch your wand to it and say, I solemnly swear I am up to no good. Go ahead and try it.”

When he had done so lines began to appear and soon all of Hogwarts was laid out in front of him on the parchment. Small dots labelled with each person’s name, some of them moving, showed where each person in the castle was. And at the top of the map was a heading. Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs purveyors of aids to magical mischief makers are proud to present the Marauder's map. When he read that he gasped.

“Yeah great isn’t it?” Said George. “We found it in our first week.”

“We’d dropped a load of dung bombs in one of the hallways and it upset Filch for some reason.” Fred added.

“When he took us to his office we saw that one of the drawers on his filing cabinet was labelled confiscated and dangerous.” George continued.

“Naturally we couldn’t resist. So I made a distraction by setting off another dungbomb.” Fred stated audaciously.

“And I reached in and grabbed this.” George finished. “It’s the secret of our success.”

Harry finally found his voice. “That sounds like a great adventure, but do you know who they are.” He threw them a questioning look, working hard to keep the smile off his face.

“Ah, unfortunately no. Not really. Obviously great men, but as to their exact identities. No clue.”

“Well, I can help you there. Prongs was my dad.” The twins goggled at him. “Padfoot was his best friend Sirius, Moony was Remus, and Wormtail was Pete. unfortunately he didn’t write their last names in his journal.” He smiled broadly at the two gaped mouthed twins trying not to laugh at their stunned expressions.

“Well, Harry if that’s true, and we have no reason to think it isn’t, then this map should be yours.” They said offering over the map.

Harry held up his hand. “No, you keep it. You earned it. Dad mentioned in his journal that they lost it to Filch intentionally for someone else to find. I think he did actually intend for their kids to find it, a sort of test to see if they were worthy. However you got it, so it's yours. Besides, I was planning on making something similar anyway. I brought some special paper with me this year to make a map of the school with. It hadn’t occurred to me to add an effect to show where other people are, but that’s a really good idea. He didn’t say how they got that to work though, I’ll have to do some research. It’ll make a fun project though. Really guys, keep it, it’s yours.” They were making motions like they wanted to insist that he take the map. Harry wanted to cut them off before they got too far in that thought.

“Wow Harry. Just wow. That’s incredible.” They still looked stunned but at least they were talking again.

Smiling Harry nudged them. “Shall we go paint a hallway with prank juice?”

That broke them out their momentary stupor. “Right you are Harry. Yes those poor students won’t get to enjoy our humour if we don’t get moving.”

“Hello, you are Harry Potter.” The girl in front of him was small, and thin. She had long, somewhat straggly dirty blonde hair, and luminous slightly protuberant silver eyes. However what Harry found most odd was that she wasn’t wearing shoes. She had been skipping down the hall of the castle, barefoot. He thought he recognized her from the feast, but couldn’t recall her name.

Shaking his head to clear it he finally responded. “Umm, yes I am. And you are?”

“Oh, I’m not surprised you don’t know. You are hardly ever in the common room. Do the nargles bother you too? They stole my shoes you know, so I’ve been out looking for them. Luna Lovegood, though most people have taken to calling me looney.” She had a soft dreamy voice that Harry thought sort of wafted toward him like a bit of silk caught in a breeze. She held out her hand to shake, but when Harry reached for it she grabbed his hand turned it and kissed his knuckles. Then she fell over laughing.

“Umm, nice to meet you Luna. Do you need any help finding your shoes?” For some reason he found he was blushing, though for the life of him he couldn’t think of why.

The girls laughter finally came to an end as she looked up at him. “Oh, that’s very kind of you Harry Potter. I’m sure they’ll come back when they’re ready though. No need to worry.” She offered her hand again, which Harry looked at warily.

“If I take your hand to help you up off the floor, are you going to kiss it again?”

“Oh no, I just did that the once to see what it’s like. Boys are supposed to kiss girls hands like that you know. So I wondered if it was different being the kisser rather than the kissed.”

Reaching down to pull her up he smiled. “And was it different?”

“Oh, a little, though I think I prefer being kissed. I might need to experiment a little more to be sure though.” She looked up at him curiously and taking the hint he turned her hand over and kissed her knuckles. “Hmm, yes definitely prefer receiving. You?”

“Well, I wasn’t really thinking about it at the time. So I think I will need to experiment some more to be sure as well. Sorry.”

“No need to apologize, experimentation is how we learn silly.” And once more she grabbed his hand and kissed it. “Do you need more?” She tilted her head and smiled at him.

“Hmm, no I think I’ve got it figured out now. I think I might prefer to do the kissing. It feels a bit odd to be kissed honestly.”

“Oh, well better check just to be sure.” And she offered up her hand once again.

“Well, mustn’t be lax about gathering data.” He took her hand and turning it laid a kiss across her knuckles once more. “Feels a bit regal really, like I’m a lord in training or some such.”

“Ooh, well then my lord, I’m honored.” She blushed and curtsied. Then fell over laughing again. After a moment Harry joined her. After all it was funny.

And that was how professor Flitwick found them, rolling on the floor howling with laughter.  
“Mister Potter, miss Lovegood, not that I don’t enjoy a good laugh myself, but I simply must wonder what was so funny as to have two of my brightest students in such a state?” He smiled brightly down at them as he spoke, making it clear that he was not angry, merely curious.

Harry recovered first and attempted to explain, but found that he was blushing too hard every few words to do it justice. Eventually Luna sat up and began to explain.

“I was curious how boys feel when they kiss a girl's hand. So I kissed Harry’s. After I explained he decided to try it himself. Then he said he felt all regal like a young lord in training, which of course he is. I found that rather funny myself, and I guess that he did too. So we shared a good laugh. Would you like to join us professor?”

Chuckling lightly Flitwick continued to smile, “Not today miss Lovegood. Perhaps next time I’ll be present for the merriment. Unfortunately it is my sad duty to break you both away for the moment. It is almost time for dinner, you really should get down to the great hall.” Finally glancing further down he noticed her lack of foot covering. “Umm miss Lovegood, where are your shoes?”

A few days later Harry had the chance to introduce Luna to his other friends. They were meeting in the library today.

Hermione was already there when the rest arrived. She had her transfiguration homework out, working on the essay they had been set concerning the theory behind a difficult transformation of a gerbil into a teapot. Harry found the entire thing a bit confusing really. There were several classifications of transfiguration, but really they boiled down to; object to object, animal to animal, plant to plant, object to animal, object to plant, animal to object, animal to plant, plant to object, and plant to animal. Each could then be either simple or complex. The theory was basically the same for any transfiguration within a group. Yet they were set assignment after assignment on essentially the same thing over and over again. He guessed that most people needed the repetition in order to understand it. He prefered to demonstrate that he understood and then move on.

Luna sat down and pulled out her charms homework, an essay on the lumos charm that Harry had offered to help with. Seeing as he had done that same essay last year he figured he could help her get it done more quickly than if she worked alone. And Luna was glad for the opportunity to work with friends.

The twins meanwhile grabbed several texts on potions, claiming they had an essay for Snape on the properties of some plant or other. Harry of course knew that they were really looking up information on the ingredients for the potion they had been working on. They still hadn’t worked out the brewing method and the twins were hoping that by researching the properties of the ingredients they might find a clue as to how to proceed.

Before everyone got too absorbed however Harry cleared his throat. “So I wanted to introduce you all to my new friend Luna. She’s a first year in Ravenclaw. Luna this is Hermione, she’s in Gryffindor, as are these two lunatics Fred and George. I can’t tell them apart, and they like it that way.

Hermione turned her bright smile towards the little blonde, “Hello Luna, it’s nice to have another girl in the group. I’ve been feeling outnumbered.”

Luna tilted her head. “We still are. There’s three of them, and only two of us. But since we’re smarter maybe that will make up the difference. Assuming we don’t get attacked by garumphs, that happens in library’s sometimes.” She smiled cheerfully and offered her hand.

Hermione looking a bit taken aback took her hand and shook briefly. “Umm, what’s a garumph?”

“Oh their terrible. They live inside books, though not all books. They come out sometimes though and nibble on fingers. That’s how you get paper cuts.”

The twins looked to be holding in their laughter and one of them finally spoke. “Hello Luna. Long time no see. How’s Ginny doing? We don’t get to see a lot of her at the moment. Been really busy with class I suppose?”

Oh, hello Fred. I haven’t seen her either, except for a couple of classes. I think she’s spending too much time with Tom.”

The second twin, apparently George whipped his head up at that. “Tom? Who’s that?”

“Her diary. I heard her talking to it in Transfiguration.”

“Wait, you can tell them apart?” Harry jumped in. “And how do you know each other?”

Fred responded, “Oh we live near each other, just a couple miles away. Luna and Ginny have been playing together for years.”

Luna turned her sparkling eyes to Harry, “Of course I can tell them apart. They really are quite different. Can’t you tell?”

“But they’re identical.” Hermione it seemed had finally found her voice once more.

“No, they just want you to think that. You have to look closer to see the differences, they try so hard to hide them.” Luna’s voice despite being soft still managed to captivate the little group.

Not wanting this line of thought to continue however, the twins jumped back in. “Ignore her Hermione.” Said Fred holding out his hand as though to cover hers.

“We are completely identical, in every way.” Continued George who was holding out the opposite hand from Fred.

“Never think otherwise. We are a package set.” Fred finished finally closing the distance and patting Hermione’s hand on the table.

“Hermione shook her head and glared at them. “You know if you’re going to do that, I’d prefer you do it somewhere I’m not studying. Some of us are trying to learn.” She sniffed and turned her nose up while lifting her book to hide her face. Harry was sure though that he had caught her eyes following Fred as though to see how he reacted.

“George, I think we’ve been snubbed.”

“I think you’re right brother mine. Whatever shall we do?”

“Well, since she’s trying to get you to react like that. I’d say tickle her mercilessly. Although if you wanted to be mean then you should probably just ignore her.” Luna cut across them. Everyone stopped and turned to look at her. Even Hermione dropped her book back to the table.  
“What? It’s very obvious.” She said into the silence. “Here I’ll start.” And she reached over and tickled Hermione’s ribs.

Hermione jumped about a foot in the air giggling and tried to shove the offending hand away. “Luna, stop that. I’m very ticklish just there.”

“Brother, I think Luna was right.” George piped up.

“Yes brother, I agree.” And the two of them promptly reached over and assisted Luna in tickling Hermione.

Hermione at this point was trying to curl into a ball to protect her ribs and cried out. “Harry help me.”

“Sure, this looks like fun.” And he grabbed Fred at the back of his knees having learned that to be a ticklish spot on himself. Soon all five of them were rolling on the floor howling with laughter and random epithets of “stop that” and “oh god not there”.

Unfortunately they had forgotten where they were. It didn’t take long for madam Pince to come blazing around a corner looking fit to murder them. “What do you think you are doing? This is a library not a horse farm. You will stop that at once. Out all of you out, this instant. Go on shoo, the lot of you.”

Fred and George were still laughing as they trudged out of the library. While Hermione was looking rather downcast. “Now how are we going to study?” She asked.

Fred looked over at her. “Sorry we got you kicked out Hermione.” He was still giggling though which took away from the apology.

“Yeah Hermione, we’ll find some way to make it up to you.” George offered. Though he too was still smiling broadly.

“I still have another three inches left on that essay, and I needed extra reference material. At least it isn’t due for a few more days. I guess I can go back tomorrow.” Hermione sounded very put out.

Harry snapped his fingers. “I’ve got an idea.” He leaned over and kissed Hermione’s cheek. “I’m sorry I assisted in getting us kicked out Hermione, but I might have a way to make it up to you right now. Fred, George, take them to our lab. I’ll meet you there.” And with that he shot off down the hall.

Once he was around a corner he stopped and slipped on his invisibility cloak. Now unseen he continued his run down the hall, thus avoiding being caught by teachers or prefects.

A few minutes later he entered the private lab he and the twins had set up.

Hermione was inspecting one of the cauldrons as he entered and she turned to look at him. “This is interesting work Harry, but are you sure it’s safe?”

“As safe as we can make it. Right now we’re really just exploring the interactions of the ingredients. Since we only have a portion of the brewing method we’re having to rebuild it almost completely from scratch.” As he spoke Harry pulled what looked like a matchbox from his pocket and walked over to an empty section of wall. “Here, this is a bit of a secret so I’d appreciate it if you guys didn’t tell anyone. It’s not against the rules, I’d just prefer not to spread it around.”

He set the box on the floor, tapped the bear and the box grew into his trunk. Opening his private library he motioned for the others to join him.

Inside Hermione was going through the shelves admiring his small collection of books. The twins were checking out the examples of things his ancestors had made. And Luna was looking at the computer.

Harry, realising it would be amusing to see everyone's reaction turned on his radio. A moment later a soft R&B song was playing. The twins smiled, it was one they knew and they started singing along. Hermione however whipped around so fast that her hair slapped one of the books off the shelf.

“Harry, that’s. But muggle things aren’t supposed to work in Hogwarts. It says so in Hogwarts a History.”

“I know, it’s something about the trunk. I tried to bring the radio here once so I could play music while brewing, but it doesn’t work outside the trunk. Once I got it back in here though it worked just fine again. Still haven’t quite figured out why.”

Luna had an explanation though, “It’s because this space doesn’t really exist so it isn’t affected by the magic of Hogwarts.” She smiled as though she had just explained the innermost workings of the universe. Which, Harry thought, she might have.

Hermione though, disagreed. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

“Hermione love,” Fred began.

“In the wizarding world,” George continued.

“Many things don’t make sense.” They finished together.

“Hey, what did I tell you about doing that when you’re on opposite sides of the room.” Harry blurted out at them.

They both hung their heads looking rather sheepish. “Sorry Harry.” They said in unison. Then looked at each other, then at Harry, then at each other again. “Umm, Harry. We’re right next to each other.”

“I know, I just wanted to see how you’d react.” He grinned at them.

“George, we’ve just been pranked.” Fred placed one hand over his heart.

“We have Fred.” George mimicked his twin.

They smiled at each other, and in a flash they ran across the room and scooped Harry into a group hug. “Well done Harry, we’ll make a prankster out of you yet.” They chorused.

After that, things settled down a bit. Harry spent some time answering Hermione’s questions about where he had found the trunk, and all his books. He told Luna about the computer. And shared what he knew about the objects his father had left for him. Which regrettably wasn’t much. He hadn’t yet had time to read through all the journals so most of them he only knew what was written on the cards that each came with.

Soon enough they were working on individual projects. As he looked around at his small group of friends Harry felt that the introduction had gone well.


	17. Chapter 17

Having seen the quidditch matches last year Harry expected practice to be rather rigorous. It turned out that he was actually more interested in practice than his teammates were. Davies only scheduled one practice a week and was careful to insure that they never went over four hours. The rest of the team seemed well pleased about this and when Harry asked him about it he explained that usually either Gryffindor or Slytherin won as they were more interested in general. And being Ravenclaws he and the rest of the team were more interested in their studies anyway.

Harry chose to take himself out a couple times a week to train on his own. Though his private training tended to consist of flying through a mid air obstacle course he arranged in his mind. Sometimes using the goals and stands as part of his obstacles just to have a real barrier.

As the first game for Ravenclaw approached he felt sure that he at least would not make a fool of himself. Though he held little hope of his team actually winning. Although rumour had it that the Hufflepuff team practiced even less than the Ravenclaws.

Nevertheless when the morning of the match came Harry found himself to be very nervous. His stomach kept clenching and his knees were shaking as he made his way down to breakfast.  
When he stepped into the great hall he found a surprise. Hermione and the twins were seated at the Ravenclaw table with Luna right next to where the Ravenclaw team was seated.

They ushered him into a seat and the twins handed him a plate loaded with bacon, pancakes, and toast. “Eat up Harry.” Fred said with a serious look. “You’ll need the energy. Trust me.”

“Yeah Harry, Fred and I are beaters on the Gryffindor team, as you know.” He did know that he had cheered for them at the last match last year. “So we can tell you that if you don’t eat. You’ll regret it ten minutes into the match.”

“Unless I throw up, in which case I’d regret having eaten.” Harry responded trying to keep the grimace off his face.

“Don’t worry Harry, you’ll be fine. Even with the attack.” Luna’s voice drifted across the table as she raised a strawberry to her lips.

“Attack?” Hermione gasped. “Luna, what attack?”

“Indeed miss Lovegood? Do share some details.” One of the twins chimed.

“Oh I don’t know. The hinklepuffs only told me there would be an attack of some kind.” She was smiling dreamily as she spoke.

“Hinklepuffs? What…”

“Don’t Hermione, you know you won’t like the explanation any more than you have the other times you’ve asked. And there are more important things to worry about.” George cut her off before she could finish asking about another of Luna’s odd creatures.

Unfortunately before Harry could get his own questions out Davies was ushering the team towards the pitch.

“We’ll be cheering for you Harry.” Hermione and the twins called as he and the rest of the team left the hall.

High in the air above the pitch Harry’s stomach finally stopped roiling. The clean feel of the air and the wind in his hair cleared his mind better than anything else. Up here he could leave behind the worries and fears that had haunted him all morning.

Picking himself up, he began to sweep the pitch, watching for the glint of gold that would alert him to the presence of the snitch.

Ten minutes later Harry was getting bored. The snitch had not yet appeared and the game was going rather slowly. Ravenclaw was currently up 40 points to 20. However it was less due to spectacular flying than to borderline luck. He had dodged a couple of bludgers early on but since moving a bit higher he had managed to avoid everything for a while now.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw something moving. Turning to get a better look he had to roll and dive to avoid an incoming bludger. Rolling back to upright he blew out a breath. “That was close.” He said to himself. “Almost…”

Before he could finish the thought though he heard a whistling sound and had to duck to avoid another bludger. “Two at once? That’s a little odd.” But it wasn’t two bludgers. As he watched the bludger flying away it turned and rushed back towards him.

Rolling to the side again he managed to avoid it a third time, but before he had finished correcting his position on the broom, it had turned and was coming towards him again. “What’s up with this thing?” He wondered aloud as he dove. “Maybe if I get closer to the other players it’ll leave.”

This idea failed to work as Harry intended. He wove through the other players, but the bludger ignored them all continuing to relentlessly pursue Harry. Harry ducked, dodged, and weaved through players. Still the obnoxious iron ball came after him. He almost missed the sound of madam Hooch’s whistle calling for time out.

“Potter, what’s going on?” Shouted Davies as Harry joined the rest of the team.

“I don’t know. The thing won’t leave me alone. I thought maybe it would go for someone else if I got closer to the other players.”

“Well that didn’t work. It actually stopped me from scoring, twice.” Looking closer Harry noted that Davies was looking distinctly annoyed. “If it goes after you again try leading it to the opposing team.”

“Should we call for an inquiry?” Stretton asked. Harry hadn’t interacted with the older boy much yet. He was in the same year as Davies and was another chaser on the team.

“No, we’ll have to forfeit the match if we do that. Unless you don’t think you can manage Potter?”

“I’ll manage Davies. Sorry about the score blocking, I guess I wasn’t paying enough attention. I’ll see if I can block the Hufflepuffs next time.” Harry replied.

“Good, let’s get back out there.” Davies motioned for the team to mount their brooms. Just in time too, madam Hooch chose that moment to stride over and see what was taking so long.  
With another whistle blast the teams were back in the air and the game was on again.

A moment later the bludger was back again. This time Harry was careful to fly at a group of the Hufflepuff team hoping that at least the ball would distract them. However when he cleared the chasers there was suddenly a very large boy with an extremely large club directly in front of him. The club was drawn back and as Harry’s eyes grew wide it began to move towards him.  
Trying not to scream he rolled over to hang from the broom hoping the boy couldn’t react fast enough to follow his move. Too late he realized that the boy wasn’t aiming for him, but rather for the bludger. Unfortunately the bludger didn’t seem to care about that. It changed direction as Harry rolled. The club barely clipped the edge of the iron ball which sent it into a spin. Instead of hitting Harry it slammed into the rear end of Harry’s broom.

Harry watched in a state of momentary confusion as a bunch of twigs sailed through the air below him. He had time to ponder to himself where they had come from before gravity took hold of him and he began to fall.

Unable to do anything to control his descent he flailed. In his panicked mind he was hoping to grab hold of anything. But there was nothing to grab. He didn’t even have his wand on him, he’d left it in his locker as the rules required. Not that it would have mattered anyway, as he didn’t know any spells that would help in this situation.

Something to research he thought, if I survive this.

Then he stopped thinking as his world exploded in pain. His leg was on fire, looking at it he saw that it was not truly on fire. Rather something had struck him hard enough to not only break the bone, but to actually drive the bone through his skin. A drop of deep crimson hung from the tip of the bone sticking out of his leg. As he watched it trembled and released seeming to fly upward as it let go of it’s hold on Harry. And with that image playing in his head Harry gratefully sank into darkness. A moment later he swore someone brushed against his arm.

When Harry returned to awareness he quickly wished he hadn’t. He couldn’t see anything, and wasn’t sure if he had gone blind, or if it was just really dark. Worse than that though was the pain. His whole body felt like it was on fire.

Well maybe not on fire. His right leg and left arm, along with most of his chest were filled with a series of sharp prickles as though they had rose vines growing through them. His head was throbbing with a dull ache as though someone were pounding on it with a large soft hammer. And his ears were ringing. That last wasn’t too bad by itself, but when combined with everything else it was extremely annoying.

And then apparently just to add to his misery he could sense a presence near him. Someone was close by, and he couldn’t see them. Once again he was helpless, essentially bound and someone was in position to hurt him. Trying not to panic he opened his mouth and realized that his throat was also hurting. It was dry, and his voice rasped when he spoke. “Hedwig, is that you?” He reached up as he spoke recalling that the last time he had been injured she had been sitting at the head of his bed. Maybe it was her again.

He felt a beak against his searching fingers and then Hedwig’s soft feathers. It seemed that she had hopped over to make his search easier. He managed to stroke her a few times before he had to lower his arm. His owl barked and nipped his finger in what seemed an affectionate sort of way.

“I have water for Harry Potter.” Said a small squeaky voice. “Does Harry Potter need help to drink?” Asked the voice.

Rather than trying to speak Harry simply nodded. A moment later he felt the rim of a drinking glass pressed against his lips. Opening his mouth he nearly groaned as cold water flowed across his cracked lips to moisten his aching throat. Too soon the cup was taken away, and this time he did groan in protest.

He heard water being poured from a jug though and realized that he must have emptied the cup. Sure enough a moment later the cup was again placed against his lips.

Three times the cup was refilled before he began to feel normal, or at least not like a desert had replaced his mouth. “Dobby, is that you?” He asked as the cup was being refilled again.

“Yes Harry Potter.” The crazy little elf sounded sad, and oddly frightened. “Dobby is sorry, Harry Potter. Dobby did not want to do it sir.”

“You didn’t want to do what Dobby?” 

“Dobby didn’t mean to sir. But Dobby was ordered to. And Dobby can not disobey orders Harry Potter.”

“Orders? Wait are you saying that you sent that bludger after me? On someone’s orders?”

There was no reply, instead there was the sound of a head being struck hard by something wooden. It had been a while, but he had been struck by wooden spoons often enough that he recognized the sound. This was accompanied by Dobby shrieking. “Bad Dobby, bad Dobby.”

“Got it, you’ve been ordered not to tell. Please stop that Dobby.” He waited for the elf to stop abusing himself before he continued. “I’m sorry I haven’t managed to free you yet Dobby. Of course, this is the first time I’ve known where you are. Have you been here often?”

“Oh no Harry Potter. This is only the second time Dobby has visited Hogwarts, Harry Potter. Dobby has trouble sometimes getting away. Dobby has to wait for a time when the masters does not order Dobby to be doing something all day and night.”

“Okay Dobby, just be sure to let me know when you are around so I can trick Draco. Umm, Dobby, can you tell me where I am?”

“Oh, Dobby is sorry Harry Potter. Dobby thought you knew. Harry Potter is in the hospital wing.”

“Thought so. And do you know why I’m tingling, prickling and hurting all over?”

The little elf seemed to break down in tears for several long moments before he finally answered. “Many broken bones Harry Potter. Harry Potter’s leg was broken. His arm, and several of his ribs were broken. And Harry Potter’s eye was injured, though Dobby does not know how it was injured. Harry Potter should probably go back to sleep. It is good for Harry Potter to rest and heal.”

“I’d love to Dobby. Unfortunately it hurts too much. But I’ll try.”

It sounded like Dobby was hopping back and forth for nearly a minute, and then he snapped his fingers and Harry knew no more.


	18. Chapter 18

Three days Harry stayed in the infirmary, Madam Pomfrey bustling around feeding him potion after potion after potion. The twins had visited several times, each time bearing a new prank. They had changed his hair to green the first day. The second they turned his fingernails a lovely shade of pink, and the third his skin became red and gold striped. Harry found it funny, especially when Madam Pomfrey threw a fit over it.

Luna was there when he woke the second time, she had brought an assortment of odd fruits which she explained would keep away nargles. Then she sat and discussed Harry’s recovery and winter plans. Harry was hoping to visit with his friends and their families over the holiday in order to find someone to stay with over summer before Dumbledore placed him with another family. He explained to his friends that while the headmaster had freed him from the Dursleys, he didn’t trust the man to choose a suitable home for him a second time.

Hermione had brought with her a large selection of candy, apparently sent by most of Gryffindor. It seemed they had enjoyed the show of him doing mid-air ballet with a bludger, right up until he got hit. They wanted him to know that they were sympathetic to his pain.

Now he was free of the infirmary he was headed to the lab he and the twins had set up, which was swiftly becoming the meeting room for the small group of friends. He had a plan and it was time to put it into action.

“Oi, Harry good to see you up and moving again.” Fred called as Harry slipped into the room.

“Yeah, we were getting worried we might have to do something drastic.” George added.

Harry however only caught part of what they had said. A bushy haired missile had impacted with him. Hermione was teary eyed as she hugged the life out of him. “You’re okay, you’re okay.” It sounded like she was trying to reassure herself more than anyone else.

When she finally let him go Luna wafted over to claim a hug of her own. She whispered in Harry’s ear. “I’m glad you’re out and about again. I missed you.”

Harry felt like he was glowing. They knew he would be okay, they had visited in the hospital wing even. Yet still they had worried, they were pleased to see him. He really had friends, now he just had to know if they would help him with his plan.

“I’m glad to see all of you too.” He was smiling so broadly he felt like his face would split. “I need your help with a couple things though. If you’re willing.” He felt heat bloom across his face as he spoke.

“Well Harry,” the twins glanced at each other as Fred spoke, “I can say that we are willing to help with anything.”

“Especially if it’s fun.” Added George.

Luna still only a few inches away looked up into his eyes. “We can’t free Dobby Harry. But we’ll help trick Malfoy if we can.”

Hermione choked. “Luna, what are you talking about.”

Harry chuckled. “Luna you constantly amaze me. Do you read my mind? Yes Hermione that’s one of the things I need help with. Malfoy ordered Dobby to make that bludger attack me. The only way to prevent it from happening again is to trick Malfoy into freeing Dobby. I have a plan for that. Which is really quite simple. Dobby will let me know when he’s here. Then one of us just needs to get Malfoy to drop some form of clothes. It can be anything, gloves, a cloak, whatever. Once Dobby grabs it, he’s free. The hard part is just getting Malfoy to drop it in a way that Dobby can grab it.”

“But what do you mean free him Harry? Surely if Dobby wants to leave the Malfoy’s he can.” Hermione looked confused, as though the very idea of following orders like that was anathema to her.

To everyone’s surprise Luna responded. “No Hermione, a house elf can not disobey its master. It can not leave of its own accord. They are slaves Hermione, magically bound to do the will of their owners.”

Hermione looked like she was halfway between tears and screams. Fortunately the twins jumped in before she could start.

“Hermione calm down.” They said together. George continued in a soft voice. “I heard my parents talking about it one evening a few years ago. Dad had discovered that one of the old families had been sending their elf to harass muggles. They were talking about how a house elf can’t be held accountable for their actions because of the bond. House elves are a created species, they are literally made by their owners. A bit like a homunculus, except with more free will. That’s why their magic is so strong, its gathered from the whole family when the elf is made. The only way to free them from their masters control is to give them clothes. Most house elves though would rather die than be given clothes. For one to want to be freed he must be really poorly treated.”

Everyone was staring at George as he finished speaking, even Hermione couldn’t think of anything to say. Finally the silence was broken by Fred. “Damn George, you’d think you would have told me about that at some point.”

“It never came up Fred. And I don’t like thinking about it.” George looked a bit sheepish.

“Well, okay then. I’m in Harry let’s do it.” Hermione had a gleam in her eye that Harry hadn’t seen before. It seemed that she had found something worth fighting for.

The twins burst out laughing. “Damn Hermione, remind us not to ever piss you off.” They said in unison. That got everyone, even Hermione laughing.

“So what’s the second thing you wanted help with Harry?” Luna asked, reminding the others that they weren’t quite done with the serious part of their discussion yet.

“Right, the other thing is a bit more personal. The headmaster removed the wards that kept me trapped at the Dursley’s this summer. I need to find a new place to stay next summer before he decides on one for me.”

“What do you mean he removed wards?” Started George.

“And decides on a new home for you?” Asked Fred.

“Does this have to do with that thing we didn’t talk about last year Harry?” Hermione asked in a small voice.

Harry looked around the room at his four friends. Could he trust them? Could he share his secret. He’d only ever told one person before. His first teacher, she had promised to help. A week later she had been transferred to a different school. Taking a deep breath he reached for the buttons of his robes. He knew he was going to, he had decided as he lay in the hospital wing. This was the final test of their friendship. If they could accept him after this he would know they could be trusted with anything.

The room went completely silent as Harry’s robe fell to the floor. “I don’t know everything about it. I know that after my parents died headmaster Dumbledore took me to my aunt and uncle. He left me on their doorstep. I don’t know how long I was outside before they found me. My first real memory was this.” He had finished peeling off his shirt as he spoke and he turned to show them the faint scars that riddled his back. “Uncle Vernon got mad because the milk jug flew across the kitchen to me. I remember that I was very thirsty. I think they hadn’t given me anything to drink that day. The jug didn’t land well and it spilled all over me. That was the first time Vernon took his belt to me like this.” He turned to face them again as he continued. They made me live in the cupboard under the stairs. Most days they would lock me in there, no food, no water. Just unending semi-darkness, and spiders. It’s probably some sort of miracle I didn’t develop some kind of complex, or phobia. When I was four they started forcing me to do all the chores around the house. They would give me a great long list of things they wanted done. Weeding, mowing, vacuuming, cooking, and so on. If I didn’t get everything done, which was bloody difficult I wouldn’t get fed. I ended up stealing food out the fridge in the middle of the night just to survive.”  
He was now putting his shirt back on. Hermione was quietly crying. Luna was just watching him, her normal dreamy sort of look on her face. The twins were looking abnormally serious.  
“When I was eight I started trying to run away. Everything failed. I told police about how I was treated. I told my teachers. Those who didn’t buy the lies the Dursley’s told everyone about how I was a lying troublemaker either did nothing, or tried to do something and then suddenly quit. I was dragged back to them time and time again. I was starting to wonder if I had done something terrible in a former life to deserve such treatment when my Hogwarts letter arrived. When I read one of the runes books I picked up for early study I realized there must be a ward of some kind that prevented me from leaving. I found a book on curse breaking that explained how to take down wards. But I couldn’t find the ward stone in order to destroy it. When I ran away again last summer, Dumbledore came looking for me. I guess he saw how things were because when he found me he explained that he had placed the ward to prevent kidnapping attempts. He said he had removed the ward and that I would need to go to a good home next year. So I was hoping you guys could help me find a family that would be willing to take me in for the summer. But that won’t try to control my choices more than absolutely necessary. I’ve been practically living on my own for a few years now. I’ve been running away and living in the woods near privet drive every few weeks since I was nine. So I really don’t know how to deal with adults that would want to make all my decisions for me. Though admittedly it would be nice to have adults who would actually care.” He finally petered out and found that he couldn’t bring himself to look up at them. He had been staring fixedly at the floor for the last few sentences of his speech.

The room remained deathly silent. Harry started to worry that he had been wrong. That maybe they wouldn’t be able to accept this new information about him. Maybe they too would leave now that they knew the truth.

Thankfully before he could go too far down that road of thought he felt a pair of arms wrap around him and Hermione’s thick bushy hair filled his vision. Before he could react he felt a second pair of arms reach around him from his other side and he smelled Luna’s shampoo. He wanted to reach around them. For the first time he could remember, he wanted to hug someone. Unfortunately his arms were pinned by his two female friends. He was trying to get his arms free when he felt two more sets of arms come around them from behind. He almost panicked before he realized it was the twins joining in the group hug.

“It’s okay Harry. We’ll help, we’ll find you someplace to go, and people who will care.” Hermione was weeping softly, and her voice was croaky, but she wasn’t finished. “And we’ll help you find a way to make sure those horrible people can’t hurt you ever again.”

“Or anyone else for that matter.” The twins said in unison. It sounded like they too were crying. “I never would have guessed Harry. You’re always so well kept.” Fred continued. “Yeah, you have to be the strongest person ever to have gone through all that without breaking.” Added George.

“I’m sure daddy will be willing to take you in if you like Harry. I’ll write to him and see if you can come stay over Yule so you can decide if you like him.” Luna sounded just as dreamy and unaffected as she always did, but she hugged him just a little tighter as she spoke.

“Us too Harry. We’ll write to mum and dad tonight.” Added the twins.

“And me. My parents were almost convinced to get you away from there over the summer. I wrote to you about that. You were probably right about the ward turning us around. I don’t know if they’ll be okay with you staying over christmas though. I’ll have to ask.

And with the reassurance that they weren’t leaving, that they were even willing to open their own homes to him, Harry finally let go of his control. He never knew how long the five of them stood there weeping softly on each others shoulders. He only knew that his shirt was soaked with tears when he finally got control of himself again.

Wriggling a bit he got his arms free and reached around to hug each of his friends in turn. “Thank you all, you’re the best.” He said as he gripped each of them tightly.

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking Gred?”

“I suspect so Feorge.”

The others looked at them a bit warily. “Yes too much feelings, not enough laughs.” He flipped his wand and suddenly George’s hair was bright electric blue.

“Oh come on. You can do better than that.” Rolling his own wand he turned Fred’s hair hot pink.

That got Harry laughing. Which in turn got the girls laughing. In just two minutes, the room was raucous with giggle as the five began throwing hair change charms, and tickling jinxes at each other. They got very little homework done that evening, but far more importantly Harry thought as he and Luna headed back to Ravenclaw tower, they had sealed their friendship completely. When they got to the tower he reached out and pulled Luna into a hug, the first he could recall initiating, and whispered into her ear. “Thank you again Luna. You’re an amazing friend.”

She was blushing so bright he thought he could read by the light of it as she headed off to bed.

A few days before Halloween Harry finishing his weekly training with Flitwick. He had decided that he was going to skip the feast in favor of spending an evening in his private lab. He had a couple of potions he wanted to work on and he wanted to take another look through the room of forgotten things. He still needed a new broom and he really didn’t want to have to order one from the catalog. The least expensive good broom for a seeker was 100 galleons, far more than he wanted to spend. And the team would expect him to get another nimbus which was 250. He was hoping he would get lucky and find another nimbus in the room. Before any of that though he wanted to make sure that he wouldn’t get in any trouble for skipping the feast. The rules stated that he could skip the feast with a professor's permission.

“Umm professor?” He started a little unsure of his favorite professor’s reaction. “I was hoping you would give me permission to skip the Halloween feast. I’ve been thinking about building a memoriam for my parents and I thought it would be rather appropriate to do it on the anniversary of their death.”

“A memoriam? I’m sorry I don’t know what that is?”

“It’s a plaque, holding photos and other memorabilia of lost loved ones. I think it’s an old Roman tradition of mourning. Not really sure, but it feels like the right thing for me to do.” He shrugged helplessly.

The small man smiled sadly at him. “Of course mister Potter. That sounds like an excellent idea. Do you have enough pictures of them? I can have Madam Pince make some copies of their school photos for you if you like?”

“There are school photos?” Harry exclaimed. “I didn’t know that.”

“Oh right, I keep forgetting you didn’t grow up in a wizarding household. You’re so good at understanding basic principles and pick up new spells so well. Yes we take photos in your seventh year. There have been discussions of doing them every year, but so far they have kept it to only the graduating class. Would you like a copy of your parents photos?”

“Yes sir, that would be wonderful. Thank you sir.”

Flitwick chuckled. “No problem mister Potter, glad to help. However there is something else I’ve been meaning to talk to you about. I was made aware of a small problem last week. There’s no easy way to explain it though, and I wanted to make sure I understood it properly before I brought it to your attention.” He motioned to the small table laden with drinks and snacks they used when they needed a short break from training.

Seating himself Harry tried not to look too worried. “Okay, what’s the problem professor?”

“We had a staff meeting and the subject of the dueling circuits came up. A few of the other professor’s follow them as well. I mentioned that you had an interest and that we were training towards your entry. Albus overheard and broke into the conversation. Apparently he is your magical guardian, that’s not uncommon. Muggle born students require a magical guardian for many things. Muggles can not find this castle even with very specific directions, and in the event of a medical emergency permission is needed for treatment. So a magical guardian is appointed for every muggle born student. That guardian is almost always the headmaster of Hogwarts. Apparently in your almost unique case he did the same for you. The problem is that he doesn’t think you should join the dueling circuit, and as your magical guardian he has the authority to deny it if he chooses.”

Harry’s mouth dropped. He was speechless, the headmaster was refusing to allow him to do something he wanted to do. Why? What reason would the headmaster have to deny him.

Seeing that Harry wasn’t going to say anything Flitwick continued. “There are two ways around this problem. The first is to get you assigned a new magical guardian. However that is incredibly difficult. You would have to find someone who was both willing and able to take on the position. Then you would have to convince the wizengamot that Albus isn’t a proper fit for you, and that your replacement choice is a good fit. Each of those has its own difficulties. I would offer, however I am not allowed. The second option is to convince Albus that you both want to join the circuit and are willing to work hard for it. If you can prove to him that you are likely to win, I think he will come around. Towards that goal, I have decided to step up your training, assuming you are willing to put in a little extra effort?” His voice made the last sentence a question and Harry thought for a moment before he responded.

“Yes.” He nodded quickly. “I really like the idea of dueling and want to do this. So yes, I will work extra hard if that’s what is needed.”

“Excellent Harry. Well in that case..” He waved at the bookshelf and a moment later two books flew over to the table. “You will need to read these very carefully. There are three skills which those most dedicated to the art learn. Usually you wouldn’t begin study in these until later, however in the interest of proving to Albus just how dedicated you are we will begin now. The first is silent casting, you would start that in sixth year anyway. It’s a bit more difficult than casting with an incantation, however it gives you a slight advantage in a duel. It will allow you to cast faster and avoid alerting your opponent to what you are doing. The other two are different sides of the same skill.” He indicated the second book, titled the mind arts for duelists. “Occlumency and legilimency. Occlumency is a little more important between the two. It is the means of defending oneself from mental intrusion such as legilimency. Which is the art of peeking into another's head to learn things about them. This is just the most basic, used by almost all professional duelists. It allows you to peek into your opponents head to get a glimpse of what they plan to do next. Occlumency allows you to prevent an opponent from doing the same to you.”

“Wow, that sounds really cool.” Harry said lifting the books. “Thanks again professor. I’ll be sure to read these through as soon as possible.”

“Good, we’ll begin discussing these arts at our next session, and practising silent casting. I expect it will take most of the year for you to get really good at that, so don’t feel too bad if you don’t get it in our first session.”

“Okay, I’ll keep that in mind. Umm professor, if you don’t mind. Can I ask why you wouldn’t be allowed to become my magical guardian?”

“Yes Harry, you may ask. Have you ever wondered why I’m so short?” He gazed at the younger wizard thoughtfully, but Harry said nothing only watched him curiously. “It's alright, most people do. My grandfather was a goblin. I never asked about the details of how he and my grandmother got together so don’t ask. Unfortunately that fact means that I faced much of the same bigotry in my school days as do the muggle born students of today. It also means that I still face a great deal of discrimination today. For example, I am not allowed to work in many positions, I had to prove that I was exceedingly better suited to the position of charms professor beyond any other applicant just to get this position. I am also not allowed under the current laws to be the magical guardian of any child not of my own blood. It is possible that will change eventually, however I’m not holding my breath.”

“That’s stupid.” Harry blurted out. “How can they treat you like that?” He asked before he could think.

“Because they are the ones in power currently. We may get lucky when the next minister is voted in, however that won’t be for a while yet. Unfortunately, we are out of time. I have a class to get to, as do you. Transfiguration for you if I’m not mistaken.”

Looking at the clock Harry jumped to his feet. “Oh crap, you’re right professor. Thanks for the reminder. I’ll see you at dinner.” He said rapidly as he gathered up his bag.

“See you at dinner mister Potter.” Flitwick chuckled at Harry’s hurry.


	19. Chapter 19

At breakfast the morning of Halloween the promised photos arrived. Six had been sent. One of James and Lilly together, and each of them alone. Then three others with his parents standing with who he guessed were their friends. His father was pictured with three boys who looked to be about the same age. Harry guessed these were Padfoot, Moony, and Wormtail, otherwise known as Sirius, Remus, and Peter. Although he wasn’t sure which name went with which face. Possibly professor Mcgonagall would tell him if he asked her. His mother was in the other two photos. One with two other girls one in Gryffindor colors and one in Ravenclaw. The Gryffindor girl was a redhead, rather curvy and laughing boisterously. The Ravenclaw oddly reminded him of Luna. She had the same dirty blonde hair, and dreamy look. The last photo however sent him into a whirlwind of curiosity. Questions piled into his head as he looked at the sour faced, hook nosed, greasy haired boy standing with one arm around his mother. As he watched every few moments she would lean over and kiss the younger image of Professor Snape on his cheek.

Why he asked himself over and over again would professor Snape treat him so badly if he had once been so close with Harry’s mother? What could have happened to cause that sort of rift?

As he was contemplating this new mystery a soft, dreamy voice wafted into his ear, tickling gently, and breaking him out of his reverie.

“Harry, who are these women?” Luna asked, leaning over to get a better look at the photo.

Harry moved the picture so Luna could get a better look. Pointing to the three women in it he answered. “This is my mum. And I assume these two were friends of hers, though I don’t know who they are. This one looks a bit like you. Is she a relative do you think?”

Luna looked up at him, there seemed to be a sadness in her eyes. “That’s my mother Harry.”

“Oh wow, our parents were friends. That’s amazing Luna!” He exclaimed, hoping that sadness he saw would pass. Unfortunately he had apparently said the wrong thing to make her smile. She wrapped her small arms around him, laid her head on his shoulder and began to weep quietly.

“Luna,” he started before thinking better of having a personal conversation in the great hall. “Let’s go somewhere else. No sense crying here. Come on.” And he guided her as quickly as he could away from the prying eyes of the other students.

They didn’t go far, simply slipping into the nearest unoccupied classroom. Once they were out of sight Harry stopped and wrapped Luna into a tight hug. “It’s okay Luna, we’re safe enough here. Go ahead and let it out.”

She did, for the next few minutes they stood there while she cried quietly still on his shoulder. Eventually she got herself under control and looked up at him again. “I’m sorry Harry, I didn’t mean to cry all over your shirt. I think I may have caught some wrackspurts.”

Brushing a few stray tears from her cheeks he smiled gently down at her. “It’s alright Luna. I did it the other day. Only fair that you get to as well. Do you want to talk about it?”

“My mother died when I was nine.” She said in a small quiet voice, Harry had to strain a little to hear her. “She was attempting to create a new spell and it went horribly wrong. I was there, I think she was trying to explain what she was doing and why. But after the accident I forgot almost everything about that day, except for..” She broke off an odd sort of retching, choking sound emanating from her.

Harry reached out and dragged her back into his arms. “It’s okay, you don’t have to say any more if you don’t want to. I think I understand. I wouldn’t want to remember that either. He squeezed just a little tighter and she returned the hug. They stood there for several more minutes just sharing what little comfort they could offer each other.

“Would you like to keep the picture Luna?” Harry asked when they finally let go of one another.

“Oh, thank you Harry, but no. I have lots of pictures of her. I don’t expect you have very many of your mum though.”

“Not really no. But still.”

“No Harry you keep it. I’m sure if I ask I could get a copy from Madam Pince anyway. They keep these in the library after all.” She smiled brightly to show that she was being sincere.

“Okay.” He accepted with a bright smile of his own. “You really are wonderful Luna. And even if it is a little sad, I still think it's pretty incredible that our mums were friends. Maybe if mine hadn’t died that night we would have grown up together.” His smile turned a little wistful as he thought about what it might have been like to grow up with people who actually cared, and who wanted him to be happy.

A small hand on his cheek drew him back. “I think that’s probably true Harry. But even though it didn’t happen, I think they would be glad that we found each other anyway.” There was a pink tinge to her cheeks as she said this which made Harry rather happy for some reason he couldn’t explain.

Glancing at the clock on the wall Harry pointed. “We should probably get going. Don’t wanna be late for class.”

“Oh poo. And I was having fun. Though, I do need to get rid of the wrackspurts. I have potions this morning. Professor Snape is always full of wrackspurts, he probably won’t notice if I drop mine off in his class.” With one last quick hug she skipped out of the room and down the hall.

Thanks to being able to skip certain classes Harry was in his private lab that evening well before the beginning of the feast. He had brought a bag full of leftovers from lunch so he wouldn’t have to go hungry. The memoriam was quite easy to set up. He had acquired a small log on his last trip to the forest with Hagrid and transfigured it into the small stand which would form the base for his memoriam. Next he expanded the photo of his parents together and attached it to the back of the large frontispiece which would have held a mirror if this were dresser top. Then he arranged the remaining photos around the main one. The image of his mother alone went into the top left corner and those with her friends went below that. His father went to the top right corner and the one with his friends below it.

That took all of five minutes. The rest of the evening he spent brewing several potions and sorting through a great deal of junk. 

He found an old bloodstained axe, which after a few cleaning and repair spells, he thought would be perfect for brush clearing and firewood. That went into the trunk with the rest of his camping supplies. He also found a dozen brooms, a couple of which seemed to be really old. Unfortunately none of them were a nimbus. It seemed he would have to order a new one after all.

He thought his most impressive find was a stack of old books which included a very old copy of Hogwarts a History he thought would make a great gift for Hermione. Which made him wonder when her birthday was. He hadn’t asked before and thumped himself for forgetting such an obvious question. He made a mental note to ask all of his friends about that when he saw them next.

The most useful find though was a collection of what he thought were goblin made items. A set of eight drinking cups, three daggers, a necklace, a ring, and a mirror. After checking for curses he decided to claim one of the daggers for himself and carefully wrapped the rest and stored them away to be taken to Gringotts when he could to see what they might pay for them.

He had also managed to brew enough sleeping draft to replenish all of his supplies. He had a dozen of the draft filled glass balls for his slingshot. He also brewed up a large batch of dittany which was good for all kinds of wounds. Several doses of sense enhancing potions which would need to be added to any beverage to be imbibed. And finally a large batch of a prank potion he had found in his dad’s journal. It would cause the drinkers hair to change color with their mood. He was planning to add it to the morning pumpkin juice for tomorrow. It would make a great school wide prank.

With his work done, and everything packed away properly he headed back towards Ravenclaw tower.

On the way there, he heard something that made his blood run cold. A voice floated to him from nowhere he could see. The voice was cold, sharp, and clearly insane.

“Kill, kill this time, Come, let me rip, let me tear you.” As it began to fade Harry broke into a dead run trying to catch it. He thought of last year as he chased the disembodied voice down the hall. This time last year he had found a troll attacking Hermione. He had been just in time to save her. What would it be this year he pondered as he ran.

Finally rounding a corner he came upon a terrible scene. 

There was water everywhere, and written on the wall in red paint were the words; The Chamber of Secrets has been opened, enemies of the heir beware. Under the words hanging from a hook was Mrs. Norris, Filch’s cat.

Before he could so much as take in the entire scene there was a great stomping of feet. From around the corner came a great crowd of students who were soon milling around looking on.  
Draco Malfoy’s voice called out above the rumbling of the students. “Enemies of the heir beware, you’ll be next, mudbloods.”

A moment later another voice rose above the crowd. “What’s going on here? Move aside there, move I said. What have we here?” Filch pushed his way through the milling students but stopped when he saw what had them held up.

For a moment it seemed that Filch was going to be so stunned that he would just stare at the message on the wall all night. Then his gaze lowered and he saw mrs. Norris. A thundercloud seemed to pass over his face as he cast his gaze about looking for someone upon whom to loose the rage building inside him. He saw Harry.

“You!” He screamed, a look of utter contempt now plastering itself across his features. “You killed my cat. You killed her, I’ll kill you.” He moved as he screamed out his rage, reaching for the clearly terrified Harry. One hand in its flailing grasped Harry’s wrist while the other made sharp contact with his side just below his ribs.

A moment later everyone was moving back, including Filch who seemed to have spent some of his anger. A horrible smell as of a used toilet was seeping out from where Harry stood rooted to the spot. And a gooey greenish brown mess was oozing out is trouser leg, dribbling onto the floor. Harry’s bowels had contracted in the moment when Filch struck him. It felt like the entire contents of his digestive tract had just been forced out of him, and into his pants. Of course he knew he would never be able to explain that to anyone else. They would simply assume that the sight of an enraged Filch had caused him to mess himself.

What felt like an eternity later Harry finally regained control of his limbs and before anyone could argue he bolted for the nearest toilet. Laughter and jeers ringing out behind him.

Upon reaching the dubious haven of the boys toilet Harry locked himself into a stall and removed his trousers. Glancing down the leg in disgust he decided they were not at all salvageable. His pants were in the same boat. The pressure of so much waste had torn them. Emptying the pockets of his trousers he bundled the two now useless bits of cloth together to be thrown into the rubbish. Before he could exit the stall however he heard the door of the toilet open. A voice asked, “Are you sure he came in here?”

Harry blanched, he knew that voice. It was Lockhart. Knowing he was going to be stuck for a few minutes he set his bundle aside and grabbed the roll of tissue paper and began cleaning himself.

A second voice this one belonging to the headmaster answered Lockhart. “Yes Gilderoy I am certain. Harry please speak to us. We need to know what happened.”

For a brief moment Harry considered not answering. For a second moment he considered yelling. He realized that neither would help him in this instance. “Umm, I’m not sure what you’ve heard already. What I know is that mister Filch attacked me and I had a sort of accident. Then I came here.” He fell silent, not being sure what else he should say.

“We heard that bit Potter, what happened before that?” A third voice, this one low and mirthful. Harry could almost hear the sneer in it. Professor Snape had apparently joined the audience.

Before that I was walking down the hallway and came upon the message on the wall and the cat. I was rather stunned and before I could do anything everyone else was there, Malfoy was yelling about how happy he was that muggleborns were being threatened, and Filch was attacking me.”

“What do you mean Malfoy was happy?” Great Harry thought now Mcgonagall is here too. Is everyone going to come gloat at me?

“I think his exact words were, you’ll be next mudbloods. Yelled it out for everyone to hear.”

“Potter, your claims are not enough to besmirch such an upstanding member of society. I will thank you not to make unfounded accusations against a member of my house.”

“Now Severus, it will be easy enough to question a few other students to find out if mister Potter is correct. I’ll thank you not to insult a member of my house when you were not even present for the event he is speaking of.” At least professor Flitwick is willing to stand up for me, Harry thought.

“Please everyone, we are not here to argue about students. We are here to attempt to determine what happened.” It was odd, Harry thought, to hear the headmaster sounding flustered. “Harry, please think carefully. Can you think of anything else that you saw or heard that might shed some light on how the cat got into its present condition?”

Harry thought for a moment. He didn’t want to say anything about the voice he had heard. He wasn’t sure what it was and without more information it would just make him sound crazy. Unfortunately there really wasn’t anything else he could add. “No headmaster, I’m sorry I can’t be more help, but no I didn’t see anything that might help.”

With much grumbling the teachers finally left. All except one, professor Flitwick remained. “Everyone else is gone mister Potter. You can come out now. I will help you get back to the tower with minimal embarrassment.”

Harry held in a snort. He pulled out his invisibility cloak and threw it over himself. With a wave of his wand he levitated the bundle of befouled clothes out of the stall and followed it out. Lowering the hood of the cloak he looked at his diminutive professor. I’m alright sir. I’ve got it covered.” With a quick flip of his wand the bundle flew into the rubbish bin. “Thanks for the offer though.”

“That is most impressive mister Potter, an invisibility cloak I assume?” Seeing Harry’s nod he continued. “Well indeed you are correct that you have it covered,” he barely held in a snigger at this and Harry smiled, “however if you would like some company for the walk the offer is open.”  
“Sure, that would be great. Thanks professor.”

“Harry, can you tell me why, uh.” Flitwick seemed to fumble for words, and sort of motioned to his trousers.

Harry took his meaning and replied. “I don’t know professor. When Filch hit me, it just happened. It felt like everything inside me just clenched.

The tiny man nodded as though that were a perfectly reasonable explanation. “And where did he hit you?”

Blinking, Harry stopped moving and stared at the professor for a moment. Slowly he reached a hand out from beneath the cloak and pointed to Flitwicks side. “Just below the ribs.”

“As I expected. There is a nerve cluster in that area, which if stimulated correctly, causes the bowels to release. I understand it is quite difficult to do intentionally, but happens occasionally by chance.” He began to reach up to pat Harry’s side, then apparently thought better of it. With Harry invisible, and essentially naked, it was probably best that he not attempt to touch nim just now.

The walk up to the tower was mostly silent after that, until they got to the entrance. “Ah, here you are Harry. I hope the rest of your evening went well. I doubt anyone will forget what happened quickly, however I can assure you that most of them will forget eventually.”

“Yes sir, good night sir.”

“Good night Harry.”

The next few days proved Flitwick right. Harry was almost constantly jeered at by his fellow students. Even his roommates it seemed were laughing at him, and Harry took to avoiding everyone except his friends. Fred and George had asked what happened once, gotten the story and then dropped it. Hermione had hugged him so hard he had been unable to breathe and didn’t mention it at all. Luna unsurprisingly had the oddest reaction, when she ran into him in the hall the next day she took his hand and walked with him to his next class where she kissed his cheek and skipped away.

In Harry’s opinion though the worst part of the evening of Halloween was that he had completely forgotten about his planned prank. He was now holding off on it, waiting for the clamor of the attack on Mrs. Norris to die down before moving ahead. 

Instead he was focusing even harder than normal on his studies and beginning to think about what to get his friends for christmas. He had remembered to ask them about birthdays, and what their families might appreciate for gifts. They had tried to talk him out of doing anything big, which he had accepted though he was still intent on doing something. He just had to work out what. As Hermione’s birthday had already passed he gave her the book he had found as a late gift, and began planning something more elaborate for christmas.

He almost forgot to ask Luna about Yule and how it differs from christmas, for example did her family exchange gifts. Fortunately gifts were apparently a thing for Yule. The most important difference was that Yule was celebrated on a different day. It seemed to Harry that there really wasn’t much difference beyond that.


	20. Chapter 20

Harry finally got around to his big prank just before the end of November the morning of his next quidditch match against Slytherin. His new Nimbus had arrived the week before and he was hopeful that this game would go better than the last.

Though as he still had not succeeded in tricking Malfoy into freeing Dobby he wasn’t very sure of how well things would go.

As though thinking of him had summoned the obnoxious brat, Malfoy was standing in the middle of the corridor in front of the Ravenclaw changing rooms. “They haven’t replaced you yet poo boy Potter?” He said in his usual snide manner. “Didn’t they learn last time that you’re useless. Aren’t they worried you’ll slide off your broom. You’re a bad omen Potter. Did you like that bludger? I thought it was a great payback for my nose. Next time you’ll think twice before you attack me.”

With a bolt of inspiration Harry raised his wand. The twins had found a spell for this just last week. It was meant to remove clothing for a healer so they could more easily get to wounds that needed treatment, and was used by Madam Pomfrey rather often apparently. They had been planning to use it to prank one of their classmates until Hermione pointed out that they could really get into a lot of trouble if they stripped someone naked in class. However for humiliating Malfoy, and possibly getting Dobby free it might just be perfect.

“Disrobify!” He called deliberately mispronouncing the spell so that rather than completely removing Malfoys shirt only his jumper moved. And it wrapped around his head.

Coughing and spluttering Malfoy ripped the jumper from his head. “You just wait Potter, when my father hears about this.”

“Yeah, yeah, he’ll remind you of how useless you are. What a waste of space. So incompetent that you can’t even put someone down properly. Go away Malfoy, no one cares about your opinion.” Smirking to keep the disappointment off his face he turned to enter the changing room.

As he finished changing for the game Harry was having a bit of difficulty getting his thoughts into game mode. He kept returning to the scene outside. It almost worked, why hadn’t Malfoy tossed the jumper aside? Of course he realized. The jumper was fine, it had only gotten in his way. To get Malfoy to toss it away he would need to make the little bastard not want it. He would need to make it filthy or damaged beyond repair. There were a few ways he could think of to manage that, he would have to wait till later to try them though.

Thankfully there were no unusual attacks at this game, possibly due to Malfoy being in the air. Perhaps he didn’t want to risk being targeted by proximity. Or maybe he just forgot to order Dobby. Either way the game was clean, despite the Slytherins various attempts to cheat.

Unfortunately due to Malfoy’s having bought his way onto the team with new brooms, he had gifted nimbus 2001’s to each member of the team, the Slytherin team were too fast for the Ravenclaws to keep up with.

Harry did catch the snitch, however by the time he found it, the Slytherins had already scored eighteen times, and weren’t slowing down. While Roger Davies had been the only Ravenclaw chaser to manage to slip a goal past the Slytherin keeper, and that only once. Ravenclaw accepted the loss, but were a bit down as the students filed back to the castle for lunch.

After lunch Harry met up with his friends for a study session, Hermione was in a right state.  
“Hermione, what’s wrong?” Asked George.

The library is no help!” The room went quiet at this outburst. Hermione Granger never disparaged the library. For her to have said such a thing must mean something very terrible indeed.

“How did our illustrious Hogwarts library fail you, oh dearest Hermione?” Asked Fred very solemnly.

“I was looking for information on the Chamber of Secrets. I know there’s something about it in Hogwarts a History, but I had to leave my copy at home. I didn’t have enough room in my trunk with all the Lockhart books. And the one Harry gave me doesn’t include the reference. But the library has already lent out all their copies, and I couldn’t find any other reference to the Chamber.”

“Oh, is that all?” Harry smiled. “Just a moment.” He had gotten into the habit of carrying his trunk with him to these meetings in case they needed anything from his personal library. Pulling it out of his pocket he motioned for the others to join him.

“Here, I have my copy.” He said pulling it off the shelf and handing it to Hermione.

“Blimey Harry, I keep forgetting you have this.” Fred opened.

“Yeah, it must have cost a fortune.” Added George.

“Not really, it was only forty galleons. I was actually thinking of getting a new one next year. This is great and all, but I really could use a little extra space in my closet.”

“Closet?” George blinked at him.

“Yeah, it’s a multi-compartment. One of the spaces I use as a closet for my clothes. It’s a good size but it really doesn’t actually hold much. I’m thinking it might be a good idea to go up a size. Also I’ve run out of space for more bookshelves in here. Fine for now, but if I increase the size of my library any more I’ll run out of room.”

“This really is incredible Harry. Hermione wishes she had one.” Luna flashed her dreamy smile at Harry before going back to the shelf she was inspecting. Which Harry noticed was his collection of books on animals, both magical and non-magical.

“Found it!” Hermione shouted. “Listen here, it is well known that Salazar Slytherin having a very different opinion on who should be allowed to attend Hogwarts, had a falling out with the other founders which ultimately led to his leaving the castle for good. Less well known however are the rumours that he had built a Secret Chamber deep beneath the castle. In which he left a monster which his heir would one day use to cleanse the school of all those he felt were unworthy of magic. To this day, none have found the Chamber, despite hundreds of searches performed by the most capable and learned curse breakers and headmasters of the school giving rise to the modern belief that the Chamber is nothing more than a myth.”

“Blimey, that’s crazy.” George looked dumbstruck.

“I wonder how he hid it?” Mentioned Fred.

“It must have been really powerful magic.” Opined Hermione.

“I think he used snakes.” Mentioned Luna.

“Snakes?” Harry asked.

“Well yes, he does seem to like them a lot.”

“Yes,” Hermione now had her thinking face on. Clearly she was puzzling something out. “And he was a parselmouth. Could he have set a password for the entrance in parseltongue?”

The room fell silent as everyone considered that question. Finally Harry responded. “Yes, I think he could. Spells can be incanted in any language, and wards don’t care what method is used to inscribe them. I can’t think of any reason you couldn’t set a password in parseltongue if you wanted. And could speak it.”

“Then we just need to find a parselmouth to help.” Luna said airily, looking rather oddly at Harry.

“Yeah, but where are we going to find one?” Asked Fred who hadn’t noticed Luna’s odd look.

George had noticed though. “Luna, why are you looking at Harry like that?”

Hermione opened her mouth to say something, however she was interrupted by Harry. He heard the voice again. “Hungry, so hungry, for so long. Must kill this time, must eat.”

“What the?” Harry blurted out startling the others.

“What’s up Harry-kins?” Asked Fred. Who still hadn’t caught the change of mood in the room.

Looking around a little wild eyed Harry replied, “Did you hear that? That voice?”

“No mate, we didn’t hear anything.” George said carefully.

“Oh that’s just the monster.” Luna said. She smiled in her usual dreamy fashion. “Harry is a parselmouth, so he can understand it. What is it saying Harry?”

A little stunned Harry just blinked at her several times before regaining his composure. “It’s saying it wants to kill someone. I think it’s heading towards Gryffindor tower. Should we follow?”

Before anyone could respond the twins were rushing out the door. Hermione squeaked as they pushed past her. “I think that’s a yes Harry.” And she too turned to follow the twins.

“We should probably follow them Harry, it could be important.” Luna took his hand and led him out of the room.

Halfway to Gryffindor they found what they had feared. A student lay in the middle of the hall, stiff and staring. He held a camera to his face as though he had been about to snap a photo.

“It’s Colin Creevey!” Exclaimed Hermione. “Oh , what are we going to do?”

“I don’t..” Fred began but before he could finish there was a great banging of doors. The bell had rung and classes were being let out.

A rush of students flooded into the corridor where they stopped at looked with shock at the small form of Colin.

“Harry Potter.” A voice called above the sound of the crowd. Everyone fell silent. “Once again first on the scene ‘ey.” Lockhart pushed his way through the crowd. “Investigating is best left to the professionals you know. I’m sure it seems like a great lark, but really Harry, you truly should leave it to me.” How exactly does he manage to show off his teeth with every word Harry wondered as he was slightly dazzled by the light glinting off said teeth.

“Calm down Gilderoy.” The calm grandfatherly voice of the headmaster intruded gently. “Harry, if you were indeed the first here I would like to speak with you. If not then please move along. We will need to learn as much as we can.”

“Well sir, actually it was the twins that got here first. I was a few steps behind them.” The poor twins went pale under the many stares that they were now under.

“Well, perhaps all of you should join us then.”

“My office is closest headmaster.” Lockhart piped in. “Just over here.”

A few moments later they were all ensconced in the office. The headmaster took the seat behind the desk, while Mcgonagall, Lockhart, and for some reason Snape stood just to the sides. The twins, Hermione, Luna, and Harry stood in front of the desk waiting to see what would be said.

“Now students, please tell us what happened.” Mcgonagall began.

Fred was the first to answer. With a quick look at Harry he started. “Well professor we were headed towards Gryffindor tower when we found Colin. Then the bell rang. Then we were talking with you and Professor Lockhart.”

“Yeah, we don’t know what happened apart from that.” George added coming to the defence of his twin.

“And why pray tell, were you going to your tower, in the middle of the day, with two Ravenclaws in tow?” Snape interjected, a sneer curling his lip as usual.

Luna nudged Harry and nodded at him when he turned to look at her. “Go on Harry, it will be okay.” She said squeezing his hand gently.

“Because of me professor.” The entire room turned to look at him and he paled under their combined gaze. “Umm, I heard a voice saying it wanted to kill, so we followed it.”

“Oh did you Potter. And where did this voice come from?” If it were possible it sounded as though Snape was even more incensed than he had been before.

“I don’t know sir, I just heard it.” He kept his gaze down, admiring the tile work on the floor. The intense gaze of so many adults was too much for him to deal with.

“How did you hear this voice Harry?” The headmaster had his usual grandfatherly voice in place, and Harry was sure if he looked up the headmasters eyes would be twinkling. Most likely Harry thought the old man was trying to butter him up. The thought of being placed somewhere even worse than the Dursleys by the headmaster who had legal control of his life had him clamming up.

“I, I don’t know sir. I just heard it. It was really creepy, but we thought if it wanted to kill someone we should follow and try to stop it.”

“Headmaster, I believe that Potter is lying to us. Perhaps he should have certain privileges removed until such time as he is willing to tell us everything. I personally believe that he should be banned from playing quidditch.” Snape intoned in an extremely dour voice.

“Oh really Severus.” Mcgonagall cut him off. “I see no reason to stop the boy playing quidditch.”  
Luna squeezed his hand again, it seemed she had noticed that he flinched when he heard the word boy.

The headmaster finally spoke up again before anyone else could jump in. “Very well Harry, if that is all you can tell us. You all may go.” Not looking up, Harry missed the hand wave dismissing them, fortunately the others didn’t and ushered him out the door.

Back in their study room they sat down at the table to discuss what had happened.

“So you’re a parselmouth Harry?” George began.

“I’d ask why you hadn’t told us, but I think I can guess. I wouldn’t want to deal with everyone’s reactions either.”

“Yeah, if anyone else finds out they’ll start thinking you’re Salazar Slytherin’s great great grandson or whatever.”

“But he is.” Cut in Luna.

The rest of the group gauped at her.

“I would have thought that was obvious. How else would he have that particular gift? It’s not like it’s a bad thing. There are a lot of people who are related to him.”

“How could it not be a bad thing Luna?” Asked Hermione. “Everyone will think Harry is the heir. They’ll think he’s attacking people.”

“Only if they’re stupid Hermione. Anyone who knows Harry will know that he would never attack anyone. He’s far too kind for that.”

“Luna, I hate to break it to you, but most people are pretty stupid.” Fred jumped in, cutting off Hermione who looked as though she were about to start a tirade.

George continued the thought before anyone else could respond. “Yeah, if they weren’t we wouldn’t be able to convince anyone that we didn’t pull the hair prank this morning. They’d already know.”

“Umm, I did that.” Harry jumped in. “It seemed funny at the time, but now it’s kind of gotten overshadowed hasn’t it?”

“Yeah unfortunately mate. It was funny though seeing half the Slytherins with pink hair. Mind you ours being that particular shade of blue wasn’t very nice.” They eyed Harry suspiciously.

“Don’t look at me. The recipe said that it would change your hair color depending on your mood. I thought it would last all day though, not just for breakfast. It was one of my dad’s though so maybe one of the teachers knew how to reverse it. Unless I got the recipe wrong, or maybe the dosage. I’ll have to go back and look through it again.”

“Yes that’s all very good Harry. But you’ve gotten off topic. The Chamber, if we want to make sure that no one blames you we need to find out where it is and what the monster is. Then we need to stop it before it attacks anyone else. Then we can prove that it wasn’t you.” Hermione said all this very fast. As though she were afraid of being cut off again before she could finish.  
“Well, that won’t be easy. No one knows where the entrance is.” Fred began.

“Except for whoever opened it.” George finished.

“Well, if we’re right about the entrance requiring a parseltongue password. Then we could find it just by trying parseltongue in every room of the castle. Although we’d need to figure out the password.” Harry was starting to warm to the subject. This was right up his alley, he already knew he was interested in solving these kinds of mysteries.

“If it were me.” Luna began, “I would make the password something easy to guess. With it being in parseltongue anyway no one except his descendents could open it anyway. So making it something easy would make it easier for them to do so. Maybe just open.”

The twins looked at each other then began speaking in unison. “Luna, that’s genius. Harry you have to try.”

Hermione jumped in before they could continue. “That’s all fine, but where to start? That could take forever checking each room. It would be best to start in the most likely location to make it easier.”

“Well, you could ask the ghosts. One of them might know where the entrance is.” Luna once again stunned them all into silence.

Hermione blinked rapidly for nearly a minute before speaking again. “Luna, I don’t know where you come up with your ideas, but keep them coming. I’ll make up a schedule for talking to the ghosts, with all the ghosts. We can look it over and decide who’s going to talk to which ghosts and when.”

They spent the next few hours working out a plan of action. Fred and George would approach Sir Nicholas and the Bloody Baron, along with Peeves and the ghosts that tended to remain in the upper floors. Hermione would find the Fat Friar and those ghosts that wandered the first two floors. Luna would speak to those ghosts that haunted the middle floors. And Harry would take the two ghosts that haunted the dungeons, and the three that wandered the grounds.


	21. Chapter 21

The next few weeks passed in a blur of study, spell practice, chatting with ghosts, and figuring out christmas presents. In early December there was an announcement on the board that a dueling club would be starting. Harry decided to approach Flitwick about it, curious if the energetic little man would be running it. Perhaps in an effort to prove to the headmaster that Harry was good enough to join the circuit come summer.

Harry had not yet managed silent casting, though he thought he was getting close. Occlumency was proving to be even more difficult though. The first step was to quiet his emotions, which was proving to be impossible for one Harry Potter. As for legilimency, he had not yet started trying that.

Flitwick greeted him cheerily as he entered the office. “Good morning mister Potter. As this is not our normal meeting time I expect you are here to ask about the dueling club that was announced this morning?”

“Yes sir.” Harry said with a smile. “Are you running it? I thought you might have come up with the idea to prove to Dumbledore that I should be allowed to join the circuit.”

“Not me Harry. While I agree that should you do well in the club it would aid in convincing headmaster Dumbledore I really don’t have the time to run another club. I have enough to do with the gobstones club. No it will be Lockhart running the club. Though he has requested that I come and assist occasionally. I believe Severus will be there for the first meeting though. Be sure not to show off too much in your first match. It wouldn’t do to give away all your tricks before your first real match on the circuit.” Flitwick was now sporting a feral sort of grin that Harry had seen on several goblins. In that moment he could see the relation this diminutive man had with the bankers of the wizarding world.

As promised when the group of friends arrived at the dueling club, Lockhart and Snape were waiting on a raised platform. “Welcome, welcome.” Lockhart began as the last of the interested students wandered into the great hall where the club was meeting. “Ah it’s good to see you all. Can you all see me, can you all hear me?” He asked in what he seemed to think was a winning voice. “Well, professor Dumbledore has given me permission to start this little dueling club. In order to train you all up, in case you ever have to defend yourselves against some dangerous creature. As I myself have done on countless occasions, for full details see my printed works. Now professor Snape here has agreed to assist me with a little demonstration before we begin. Now I don’t want you to worry. You’ll still have your potions professor when I’m through with him. Shall we begin professor Snape?” He turned to face the dour looking man in long black robes across the dais from him.

“Now on the count of three. One, two, three.” Lockhart gave a complicated sort of wave with his wand but nothing happened.

“Expelliarmus.” Snape called as he raised his wand. A jet of light burst out of his wand and struck Lockhart in the chest. Lockhart’s wand went flying, as did Lockhart himself bowling over several students.

Picking himself up from the floor Lockhart pasted on a smile. “Ah yes, a good thing to show them that spell. Of course if you don’t mind my saying it was very obvious what you were doing. I could have stopped you easily if I wanted, but I thought it would be good to let them see. Now where’s my wand, ah thank you miss Brown.” Seeing the thunderous look on Snapes face Lockhart decided to change subjects. “Well then, let’s sort you into pairs so you can practice. Professor Snape if you don’t mind.”

The two of them went through the crowd of students separating everyone into two’s.

The twins moved off to the side and squared off. Harry motioned for Hermione and Luna to work together while he looked around at the others in the area to see if he could find a good opponent.

“Longbottom pair with Potter.” Snape’s voice cut through Harry’s thoughts and a round faced boy walked over looking scared.

“Umm hi.” the boy said, offering his hand to shake. “I’m Neville. Neville Longbottom.”

“Harry Potter.” Harry said taking the boys hand and shaking firmly. “Shall we?” He motioned to a spot on the floor. Neville nodded and took up his position.

“Everyone ready?” Lockhart called out over the crowd. “Good, now on my count of three cast your spells to disarm only. One, two, three.”

With the final word dozens of voices called out expelliarmus, including Harry. A moment later he was holding Neville’s wand. However there was one pair that hadn’t stopped shouting hexes, jinxes, and even one curse at one another.

Ron Weasley, and Draco Malfoy were throwing spells at one another like it was their life’s ambition to hex each other into the ground.

“Stop, stop. I said disarm only.” Lockhart yelled, trying to get control of the room again.

“Finite incantatem.” Intoned Snape when the two stopped throwing spells. The various spells they had hit each other with finally ended.

“Well, I think maybe we ought to teach you how to block unfriendly spells first. Let’s have a demonstration pair shall we. Umm, Longbottom, Potter.”

“Oh, that’s a poor choice profesor. Longbottom causes mayhem with the simplest of spells. We’ll be cleaning up what’s left of Potter with a mop. How about Malfoy and Weasley.” Snape drawled.

“Yes that’s good. Come on then, up here boys.”

The blonde and the redhead climbed onto the stage and took up positions at opposite ends. Snape leaned over and whispered something into Malfoys ear. Meanwhile Lockhart went over and spoke quietly to Weasley. After a moment he dropped his wand, said something else and laughed.

Once the teachers left the stage the two students squared off. “Begin.” Lockhart called and the two raised their wands.

“Petrificus Totalus.” Yelled Weasley sending a jet of light across the stage. However it flew wide striking a stunned Terry Boot instead.

Malfoy having moved to the side to avoid the paralysis hex raised his wand and said clearly. “Serpensortia.” A long black snake flew out of the tip of his wand to land on the stage hissing and spitting.

Most of the students began to move back, though a few pressed forward. One of these shoved Harry almost onto the stage in their rush.

“Stand aside Weasley, I’ll get rid of it.” Drawled Snape reaching for his wand.

“I’ll get it.” Cried Lockhart cheerfully, and waved his own wand. With a bang the snake was thrown into the air. At the same time the person behind Harry used him as a wall to shove themselves away from the stage. This in turn caused Harry to fall across the stage, and the snake landed around his head.

Sitting up from where he fell Harry came face to snout with the snake. Which was baring its fangs. Harry tried to remain as still as possible hoping the snake would see that he was no threat. The snake rose up a little higher making its mouth even with his nose, which was just high enough to look him in the eye.

“The hairy Potter. I still don’t know what that is. What are you doing here? Did you bring me here? Will I return home soon? I will need to release my eggs soon, and it is cold here. Speak to me Potter, why are you so silent? Are we hunting?”

Lost in confusion it took Harry a moment to recognize the snake he had met at the beginning of the summer. Now what was the snakes name? “Hello slow drinker, it is a pleasure to see you again. No I did not bring you here. The idiot with white gold hair did. I think professor Snape can send you home though if you like.” Not thinking of where he was Harry reached up and stroked along slow drinkers body in the way he had learned she liked over the summer. The snake hissed in pleasure.

“Yes speaker that would be nice. I need to be in my nest to lay my eggs. It was nice to see you again though. Your strokes are the best.”

Looking towards Snape Harry blinked a couple of times trying to make sure he spoke english next. “Professor Snape, slow drinker here would like it very much if you can send her back to her nest. She has eggs to lay.”

“What was that mister Potter? I would swear you just referred to a snake by the name slow drinker.” The dark robed man replied.

“Yes sir, that’s her name. I met her over the summer. I doubt it was intentional, but Malfoy seems to have summoned a snake from near my aunt and uncle’s house.”

“I see.” The professor looked completely stunned. A moment later he waved his wand and the snake vanished.

Climbing off the stage Harry came face to face with a HufflePuff he recognized but whose name he couldn’t recall. “What are you playing at Potter.” The boy said before grabbing a few other Hufflepuffs and running from the room. Before he could react Hermione grabbed his hand and drug him from the room, followed by Luna and the twins.

A few days later the friends were in the library working on actual homework for a change. Harry was struggling with a difficult assignment for astronomy. They had been assigned a two foot essay on the moons of Jupiter, along with mapping out a complicated star chart. The chart was easy enough, and Harry was even considering using a set of charms he had found in one of his grandparents journals that would make the chart move. However the essay was being an exceptional hassle. Not that it was difficult, rather that he could easily get all the information needed in a foot. He had to come up with a foot of waffle just to pad it out, and he was having difficulty coming up with enough.

Returning to the shelves to find yet another book that might contain some new snippet of information he could ramble on about for a paragraph or two, he overheard his name.

A group of Hufflepuffs were seated around a table, chatting. One of them, a blonde Harry recognized from classes as Hannah Abbott was asking a boy he thought was Ernie Macmillan a question.

“So you’re sure it is Potter then Ernie?”

“Of course it’s Potter Hannah. He’s a parselmouth, everyone knows that’s the mark of a dark wizard.” Ernie responded.

Another girl Harry recognized as Susan Bones joined in the discussion. “But he always seemed so nice.”

“Don’t let him fool you Susan. Think about it. Last year he had some sort of run in with Filch. First victim, Filch’s cat. And you saw how he reacted when Filch went after him. No more proof needed. But then that Creevey kid gets attacked, just after he had been bugging Potter, taking pictures of him all beaten up after the game. As soon as Potter is out of the hospital wing he gets attacked. I don’t need any more than that. It’s Potter, he’s the heir. That’s why I told Justin to head back to the common room. You saw how he went after him at the dueling club. Potter has clearly marked him out as his next victim.”

“Wow, that’s really brave Ernie.”

Harry didn’t stick around to hear any more.

Back at the table he gathered up his things. “I’m gonna work on this later. I need some fresh air. Think I’ll visit Hagrid.” He waved the others back to their seats as they started to rise. “No you guys keep working. I’ll be fine, just need to get outside for a little bit.”

He didn’t make it outside. A few corridors away he found a scene that nearly stopped him breathing. Hanging in the air, floating in the middle of the hallway was the Gryffindor ghost, Nick the twins called him. And lying on the floor at the feet of the ghost was Justin Finch-Fletchley, the Hufflepuff muggle born that those in the library had apparently been worried about. Quite correctly it seemed, though not for the reason they thought.

Once again before Harry could do more than take in the scene, someone showed up. Although this time it was neither student, nor teacher. It was Peeves the poltergeist. Harry had very little contact with this most unusual spirit of the school. While the majority of the school’s ghosts were silvery and transparent, Peeves was brightly colored, and only slightly transparent.

The mischievous spirit came through a wall and stopped to look upon the messy haired wizard standing dumbstruck at the sight of his fallen classmate and the frozen ghost.

“Wait Peeves…” Was all Harry managed to get out before the poltergeist reacted.

The floating spirit seemed to take a deep breath and bellowed. “Attack, attack, another attack. No mortal or ghost is safe. Run for your lives, attack.”

Bang, bang, bang. Doors flew open up and down the hall. Students and teachers alike flooded out of the classrooms and in almost no time at all the corridor was full of goggling, gossipping students.

“Potter!” Someone called out. Looking around, Harry saw the same gaggle of Hufflepuffs he had overheard in the library, being led by Ernie Macmillan. “Caught in the act.” He said loudly.

“Mister Macmillan. That will be enough.” Professor Mcgonagall was striding down the hall, students scrambling to get out of her way. “Mister Potter, please come with me to the headmasters office. Macmillan, Bones, Abbott. Please take mister Finch-Fletchley to the hospital wing.” It took a few moments to sort out how they were going to carry their friend. And Mcgonagall had to turn a comb into a large fan for Hannah to waft Nick to the hospital wing as it was decided that leaving him in the corridor would be disruptive and she couldn’t think of anything else to do with him.

“Professor, I didn’t..” However he was unable to finish his sentence as they were interrupted by Professor Snape.

“Professor Mcgonagall, I heard there was a disturbance. Ah, mister Potter, what trouble have you been causing?”

“There has been another attack Severus. I am taking mister Potter to see the headmaster. Once again he was the first on the scene.”

“Oh my, how tragic. So terrible for you Potter. I suppose it is an effort for you to maintain your public image with so many setbacks.”

“Professor, I..”

“Silence Potter. Unless you are ready to share what you have tried to keep hidden from the proper authorities at this school, do not speak unless you have been asked a question.” Snape glared at Harry as he spoke. “Minerva, I have no interest in watching the headmaster once again refuse to punish this boy as he should. I will check with Poppy to insure she has everything she needs. Good day.”

“Good day Severus.”

Mcgonagall led Harry to a gargoyle set in the wall on the seventh floor. “Fizzing whizbees.” She said, and it jumped aside revealing a staircase which led upwards. “Go on mister Potter, the headmaster will be with you shortly.”

Head hung slightly Harry made his way up to the headmaster’s office. There was no one inside so he looked around. There were a great many things around the room. Many silver and gold objects, many of them spinning, whistling, and whirring.

Numerous portraits lined the walls, their occupants seemed to be asleep though. Much snoring could be heard from them. On a shelf just to the side of the desk sat the sorting hat. In curiosity Harry reached up and pulled the hat from the shelf placing it on his head.

“Bee in your bonnet, Harry Potter?” The hat whispered in his ear.

“I was wondering..”

“You were wondering whether I put you in the correct house?”

“Umm, no. I was wondering if you happen to know where the entrance to the chamber of secrets is. And if you would tell me?”

“Ah, a much more interesting question. I did at one time. However the castle has been remodeled several times since then. I regret that I no longer know where much of anything is in the castle. I so very rarely see any part of the school other than the great hall and my shelf here in the headmasters office. You are not the first to ask you know?”

“I would imagine many headmasters and more than a few students have asked. Likely most of the Slytherin students would ask if they ever got the chance.”

“Yes indeed, you are quite correct. Definitely still Ravenclaw material. And I see you have been busy protecting your friends, as well as connecting with them. And you have a very cunning plan as well. The founders would be glad to have you as a student Harry Potter, I think they would all have been proud to have you in their house.”

“Thank you master hat. That is a very kind thing to say.” Harry spoke past the lump in his throat. Everything he had found written about the hat said that it could not lie. Which, if true, meant that it had just given him perhaps the greatest compliment he had ever received.

“You are most welcome mister Potter, and your reading is correct. Part of the enchantments laid upon me prevent me from lying.” This left Harry speechless. The lump in his throat grew an extra size larger. “Now if you don’t mind, I was in the middle of composing next years song. Please return me to my place.” The hat sounded as though it was holding back a chuckle.

Rather than stammer out a reply Harry simply removed the hat and returned it to its place on the shelf.

Continuing to look around the room, his eyes fell on an extremely old looking bird. The bird was sitting on a golden perch, and seemed to be having some trouble raising its head. It was missing a great many feathers, but seemed to be eyeing Harry. Stepping towards the bird intending to stroke its head, in what he hoped would be a comforting manner, he was quite surprised when it burst into flames.

‘Ah, what the?” Harry jumped back from the sudden small fireball. Before he could do anything, the door opened and Dumbledore walked in.

“Oh, professor, your bird. It just.” Harry wasn’t sure what to say.

“Oh good. I’ve been telling him to get on with it. He’s been looking terrible for weeks now.” At Harry’s curious look the older man smiled. “Fawkes is a phoenix Harry. Go on look. When a phoenix is ready to die it bursts into flames and is reborn from the ashes.” He gestured to the perch, and sure enough as Harry looked closer. A small bald head was peeking out of the ashes in the tray of the perch. The newborn phoenix squeaked, and Harry felt lighter. Without even realizing it Harry was smiling.

“Well, good afternoon Harry. Please have a seat.” Dumbledore was smiling as he lowered himself into a squishy armchair behind the large oak desk. However as he caught Harry’s eye the smile fell to be replaced by a look of tiredness and slight disappointment. “Now Harry please tell me what happened. I understand that once again you were found at the site of an attack. How did this happen?”

Running back over the order of events Harry couldn’t think of anything that would look bad for him. So he told the whole story, beginning with studying with his friends in the library and overhearing the conversation between the Hufflepuffs. The headmaster took it all in apparently listening for any information he could use.

“That is all very helpful Harry. Thank you for sharing. Is there anything else you wish to tell me?”

“Nothing springs to mind sir.”

“Very well Harry, you may go.” The headmaster looked older and more tired than Harry had ever seen him, and when he waved for Harry to leave the movement was slow and limp.

Feeling bad for the old man Harry stood to leave. “I’m sorry I can’t be more help sir. If I knew anything else I would tell you.”

“Thank you Harry, again. Go on, you have classes to get to.”

This time Harry found that he really did want to be outside. He headed out toward the lake for some air.

“Harry! Luna you were right.” Hermione called when he reached the edge of the lake. All four of his friends were seated beneath a large tree on a blanket. Hermione was waving and calling to him.

“Of course I was silly.” Luna said to Hermione as Harry joined them. “Harry said he was coming out here when he left.”

“Right you are Luna.” Fred and George said together.

“Well, yes.” Hermione huffed. “Anyway, come Harry, sit tell us what happened. We only heard that there was another attack. None of the details.

With a few stutters the story was relayed and the friends were discussing the ramifications of this newest attack. After which the friends went to visit Hagrid.


	22. Chapter 22

The next morning things got worse. Harry distinctly recalled having gone to sleep in his bed in the dorm room. Why then was he waking up on a couch he wondered as he opened his eyes. Looking around he saw his trunk sitting next to him on the floor. There was a note sitting on top of the trunk.

Picking up the note still roiling with confusion he began to read.

Potter,  
We will no longer countenance the presence of a dark wannabe among us. We the second years of Ravenclaw do hereby expel you from our dorm. We don’t want you sleeping near us anymore. Go anywhere else you want, if anyone will take you in. Or better yet, ask to be resorted, you obviously don’t belong here.

Sincerely,  
The Boys of Ravenclaw

Blinking back tears, why he was crying he couldn’t decide, the green eyed wizard folded the note carefully and tucked it into his schoolbag. Checking his trunk over he was pleased to see that the security had not been breached and everything was where it should be.

Resolving to deal with this change later, he headed for the showers.

Later that evening he realized he hadn’t thought about the note all day, and he would need to decide what to do about it before curfew.

Fortunately this was one of the rare days that the twins had quidditch practice, Hermione had an overload of homework, and Luna had late classes. So he was actually alone for the evening. Knowing he didn’t like the idea of confronting his roommates, and didn’t want to talk to one of the teachers about the issue he scratched his head for a solution that would work for everyone. He had his tent in the trunk so he had a place to sleep that was comfortable. But where to set it up? With three feet of snow on the grounds he didn’t want to go outside. While it might be fun to go snow camping, and indeed was something he wanted to do eventually. It would be difficult, and he would end up leaving tracks in the snow that would lead any curious person straight to his tent. He could go up to his private lab, and turn it into a bedroom, or whatever. However he thought, there’s really no way that no one else knows about that room. It would be really annoying to be woken up by someone walking in on him. So he wasn’t going there. That just left random empty classrooms.

Yes, a random empty classroom would work. Set up and take down of his tent was simple. He could carry his trunk with him everywhere, so he would be able to pick a new room every night thus lowering the chance of being discovered. The only difficult part would be hiding it from his friends. The twins would likely consider it a great lark, and maybe ask to join him. Hermione however would insist he go straight to a teacher, or maybe just do it herself. He couldn’t decide on what Luna might do, but he doubted it would be something helpful.

Fortunately there were only a few days left until winter break, so he wouldn’t have to hide his sleeping place from his friends for long. And hopefully after the break he would be able to come up with a better solution.

On the last day before the winter break Harry and the twins were doing some last minute research on the potion which had eluded them all term. Hermione was attempting to locate the identity of the mysterious monster hidden in the chamber, and Luna was doing some homework for potions.

“You know Harry, I’ve got the feeling that we could work on this for five years straight, ignoring everything else and still not figure it out.” Fred was looking downcast. He had just thrown down his notes for the umpteenth time, having once again realized that the idea he had wouldn’t work.

“I think I agree brother. We might actually be better off starting from scratch. We’ve tried everything I’ve thought of so far, and none of it has worked.” Agreed George.

Harry lowered his own notes to the table. “You’re probably right guys. Not that I’m ready to give up yet, but I feel like the recipe is missing something really important that we don’t even know is missing. We’ve gone over all the ingredient reactions. We’ve tried every method of prep we could think of. We haven’t yet tried all the possible brewing methods, but there’s enough of those that it could easily take another year of trials to do all of them. And that doesn’t even include increasing brew time. It could be that we need to let it steep for some time at certain stages. I was going through Moste Potente Potions the other day. Did you know there are potions that have to boil for up to a month?”

“Oh, I was looking at one of those the other day.” Hermione looked over her book at where the three boys were seated. “Polyjuice potion. It allows you to take the form of another person for an hour. I was thinking we might use it to disguise ourselves as Slytherin students to get into their common room. See we could find out which one of them is the heir. I decided against it though, the plan we have will work so there’s no need to go breaking that many rules.”

“That’s our Hermione, so worried about rules.” Said Fred.

George continued, “Don’t ever change Hermione, we wouldn’t recognize you.”

Harry smiled at his bushy haired friend. “That sounds like a good idea Hermione. Though I agree, I think the plan we came up with will work just fine.”

“Can someone help me with this?” Luna’s voice drifted over to them from where she was sitting at a separate table. “I’m having some trouble with this rash relief potion.”

Harry went over to look at what she had done.

The room returned to quiet work for a time as Harry helped Luna, Hermione returned to reading, and the twins went back to making notes on what to try next.

Before long though Hermione jumped up from her seat and yelled. “I found it!”

She ran over to the large table where the others quickly joined her. She laid the book she had been looking through down, open to a page with a picture of a snake. Written around the snake in a somewhat difficult to read handwriting was a description of the depicted creature.

The basilisk, also known as the king of serpents, is a great beast. It can live for many hundreds of years and grow to enormous size. Born from a chicken egg hatched under a toad, it’s venom is extremely deadly. It’s deadliest weapon however is its murderous stare. Anyone caught in the eyes of the serpent dies. It flees only from the crowing of the rooster, which is deadly to it.

“You really think this is it Hermione?” Asked George.

“It fits. It’s a snake so a parselmouth could easily control it. Can live for hundreds of years so it could be the thing Slytherin left. And someone killed all of Hagrid’s roosters.”

“Okay, that’s all correct. But no one has died.”

“No one looked it directly in the eye. Remember the corridor where we found mrs. Norris? It was covered in water, I’ll bet she only saw the reflection. Colin saw it through the lens of his camera, and Justin most likely saw it through nearly headless Nick.” Hermione as usual was talking so fast that it was difficult to keep up with her.

“Wow Hermione. That’s, just wow.” Fred looked awestruck. “I think she’s right.” 

“Okay, so what do we do then?” Asked Harry.

“Well, we’re leaving tomorrow. And you’ll be visiting all of us. Make a recording of the roosters at Fred and George’s. When we get back we can use that to get rid of the monster, then we just have to wait for the heir to try to summon it again.” Harry looked at Luna, who as usual had made more sense than the rest of them together. Leaning over he kissed her cheek.

“You, Luna, are wonderful.” Leaning the other way he kissed Hermione’s cheek. “As are you Hermione. Thank you both. I’ll have that recording before we get back.”

The next day the train was loaded with students. It seemed that Malfoy and his two goons were the only students remaining at the castle this year. With no one bothering them the trip went by quietly, playing exploding snap was the most excitement they had.

At the station in London Harry went back over his plans for the break as he said farewell to Luna and the twins. He would be spending the first week of the break with Hermione and her parents. He needed to convince them to take a trip to diagon alley for last minute shopping. He still hadn’t found something for the Grangers. Then he would be going to the Weasleys for a week, which would put him there for christmas. He had most of that shopping done, but he did need to get a couple of things. Finally he would go to Luna’s for the last days of the break, which would put him there for Yule. Having never experienced a Yule celebration he was interested to see how that differed.

While he was ruminating he missed the arrival of the Grangers, who were standing with their daughter looking at him. Hermione was waving at him, and looked like she had been doing so for several moments.

“Sorry, got lost in thought.” He said, hanging his head a little as he approached. “I was thinking about the plan for the break, and that I still need to finish my shopping. I was hoping I could convince you to go to diagon alley today. I can get a few things there, and it would save a trip. If you don’t mind.”

The elder Grangers looked at each other and seemed to share one of those conversations that require only the movement of eyebrows. Harry was so used to seeing the twins do this that he was a little surprised to see someone else do it. He wondered for a moment if he would ever be close enough with anyone to be able to do that. The adults turned back to Harry with beaming smiles. Mrs. Granger spoke, “Yes Harry, we can do that. Although I think introductions ought to come first, don’t you?”

Harry felt his cheeks burn and he ducked his head. “I, umm, yes, sorry.”

Mr. Granger chuckled. “Well then, shall we do it properly. Hello, I’m John Granger, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” He held out his hand.

Trying to smile through his embarrassment Harry reached up and shook the offered hand. “Hello sir, I’m Harry Potter. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

John nodded and turned to his wife. “And this is my wife Jean, Jean may I introduce Harry Potter.” He tilted his head back and spoke in an extremely pompous manner, he even added a little sniff at the end for effect. Harry had to fight not to laugh at the mocking show. It was very well done, just enough overdone to be clear it was meant to be humorous.

Mrs. Granger offered her own hand, while shaking her head at her husband, which Harry took and kissed gently. “It’s a pleasure to meet you ma’am.” This time he did manage a smile. John chuckled and caught Harry’s eye and winked.

“It’s nice to meet you Harry. And we would be pleased to host you for the holiday in our home.” She smiled broadly, and Harry felt like a weight had been taken off his chest.

“Alright, formalities done? Introductions complete? Excellent, if we’re going to add a stop at diagon then we should get going.” And he ushered them off the platform and into the London evening.


	23. Chapter 23

Diagon alley was bright and cheerful. The shops were all decorated for the holiday and everywhere they looked windows sparkled with colorful lights. A few fairies danced around the shop signs as well, adding just that little extra touch of magic.

“You know,” said John as he and Harry walked towards Gringotts, having split from the girls who were heading to madam Malkins, “I don’t think I’ll ever quite get used to the sight of this place. Everything is so different from the usual, mundane shops I’ve been going to all my life.” He smiled down at Harry who had been watching the astounded look on the older man’s face.

“I love it, although I wouldn’t give up the non-magical world for it. I haven’t decided yet which world I’m going to live in when I finish school, I just know that whichever I choose, I’ll visit the other a lot. Both worlds are great in their own way after all.” Harry was a little surprised at his own willingness to talk to the relative stranger. But chalked it up to the brisk winter air, and the happy feeling brought on by the decorations, and cheerful spirit of the alley.

“So, what are we doing at Gringotts Harry?”

“I’ll need to get out some money, my bag is getting a bit light. And I want to check on something.” The letter his father had left for him said that the second shelf would appear after he had made his first enchanted object, which he had now done. Although he had copied the design. He had made a new magical music recorder for the twins christmas gift. He wasn’t sure if that would qualify to make the second shelf appear or not, but it was worth checking.

At the bank he was quickly sent down to his vault, he surprised himself again by inviting John to come with him. And even better, Carnock was once again his driver for the trip.

“Carnock, come in here for a moment. I’d like to show you something.” Harry called to the goblin after checking to see if the second shelf had appeared. It had, and Harry was delighted to have more journals to explore. He hadn’t read the letter left with the shelf yet though, he felt that was something to do on his own later.

The goblin walked into the vault and looked around, “It is a rare thing for a wizard to invite a goblin into their vault young Potter. I am honored, though I would recommend not telling too many wizards that you have done so. Most would look down on you for such actions.”

“They don’t know how to fight Carnock. But I will honor your advice, thank you.” Carnock grabbed his belly and ripped out a laugh, long and hard, he roared with mirth.

“Well said young Potter, we’ll make a warrior of you yet.”

“Perhaps I’ll hire you to train me Carnock. Over the summer of course. Until then though, come look. You were right, dad left me three shelves of family journals.” He motioned to the one sitting against the wall, where John was inspecting the spines. “I got the first one last year, it was set to reveal itself before my second year at Hogwarts. This one was set to reveal after I made my first enchanted object. Which I did a couple weeks ago. A christmas present for a friend. There’s one more, but it won’t appear until I complete my masterpiece.” He beamed at the goblin. “You called it. And I wanted to share my joy at getting to know my family.”

Carnock reached a hand up and laid it on Harry’s shoulder. “It is a thing of pride to know one’s family young Potter. I have wept for your loss, today I rejoice for your reconnection. May you bring honor to their memory, and may their memory bring you light in the darkness.”

Harry found his eyes had gone a little moist as Carnock spoke, but his chest swelled. The words felt like more than simple words, as though the goblin had shared a small ritual with him, and he felt honored. Reaching out he laid his own hand on the goblins shoulder. Not being completely sure why, he responded. “I pray that I honor my fathers, and I see the light they have shone upon me. You too carry the light of your fathers and I see that it is bright, may it always guide you true.”

Carnock grinned, nodded once and squeezed the shoulder upon which his hand lay. “Well said as usual young Potter. Truly you are surprising young wizard. Will you be removing these tome’s today, or returning for them later?”

“Oh today definitely.”

A few minutes later the journals were in his trunk and the little group was headed back up to the alley.  
On the way to their next stop John finally spoke up again. “Thank you for taking me down to your vault Harry. It seems that was a big deal, a show of trust. It wasn’t quite what I expected, but it is quite impressive.”

“What did you expect?”

“I was thinking it would be something like Smaug’s lair in the Hobbit. Mounds of gold, and treasures. I guess that was kind of silly of me.”

“Actually, from what I’ve been told, most vaults are like that. My family was robbed shortly after I was born. The Malfoy’s bribed the wizengamot and stole nearly everything. What’s in my vault is all that’s left. I’ve been looking through the laws to find a way to get it back, but I haven’t found anything yet.”

“That’s terrible, how could they be allowed to do that?”

“Best guess is that the ministry of magic is full of corrupt people. The wizengamot is made of all old families, most of whom are anti-muggle born, and at least partially anti-half blood. So they pass laws that prevent us from getting the best jobs, make discrimination legal, and even slow our chances at building our own businesses.”

“That’s, just, wow. I can’t even think of a word to describe how atrocious that is.”

“Yeah, hence why I haven’t decided yet where I’m going to live when I finish school.”

“Hermione hasn’t said anything about any of that.” John trailed off, apparently unsure of what he wanted to say.

“I haven’t talked with her about it, and she hasn’t studied the laws like I have. I doubt she knows. I didn’t want to scare her away. We won’t need to worry about it for a few years yet.”

“That makes sense. Thank you for that Harry. It’s good to know that Hermione has made friends who think about her needs.” The older man smiled down at the younger, and once again Harry felt his heart lift. “Though, you’re younger than she is, why are you worrying about it?”

“Not worrying so much as being aware. And I was told by the goblins about my family money. It was one of the first things I asked them. I found the rest of it as I was looking into ways to get it back.” Feeling the need to change the subject Harry asked a question that had been bugging him since John had mentioned it. “Umm, on a different note. Who, or what is Smaug?”

“Oh Harry. You really shouldn’t ask questions like that. They lead to long explanations. Smaug is the most famous dragon in history.”

“Oh, now I have to know.”

With a mischievous smile, John launched into an explanation of the Hobbit, and the Lord of the Rings. Harry found the entire concept delightful and vowed to read the books as soon as he could.

The rest of the evening was rather light hearted. They traded off who was walking with who a few times, running up and down the alley marking off last minute purchases from their lists. John helped Harry select Hermione’s gift, Jean helped with choices for the other adults on his list, and Hermione helped pick out something for her parents. Soon enough they were headed for the Granger home.

The week went by quickly, they spent the first evening decorating. The Grangers had left all the decorating until their daughter had come home so they could spread cheer around the house as a family. Harry was surprised to find himself welcomed in the frenzy of hanging lights, setting up the tree, and singing carols. It was, he thought, the best christmas time he had ever had.

He soon found shared interests with all the Grangers. He would spend time in the kitchen with Jean, making cookies and pies, and an amazing christmas meal that they all shared the night before Harry was to leave for the Weasley’s.

John introduced him to a variety of movies and the fun of heckling the characters in the films. He soon decided that Monty Python, and Benny Hill were geniuses who deserved to be emulated. And that the twins really needed to see his work. Though he also enjoyed action and sci-fi, Star Wars might be the best movie of all time in that genre. Although the Princess Bride took the prize for best fantasy action. Half-way through the week he was beginning to make design plans for a magical movie projector.

He spent most of his time with Hermione of course. They went back over their homework, and looked through books on the optional classes they could choose to take next year. Harry tried to talk Hermione out of taking everything, but she was determined. He had an easier time getting her to explain some of the non-magical subjects that the Grangers had in their library.

After some discussion he poured over the few maths books they had, encouraging Hermione to do likewise. “Hermione, I’ve had a look through some of the books for the optional classes. They really are similar to these, and the teacher for arithmancy said that his best students have always been muggle-born who had studied maths.” After that she joined him in reading through all the maths books the Grangers had. He also went through the small amount of history books they had and was surprised to discover that muggle history shared several events with magical history, they merely reported differently. Although the most surprising was that he felt the magical history books were better written. This was surprising because most magical text books were poorly written compared with muggle texts on similar topics.

When he mentioned his thoughts to John, he brought Jean into the discussion and Hermione joined in. Together they came up with a theory. They determined that many of the magical textbooks they used had been written decades, or even a century or more ago. While the non-magical textbooks are updated at least every five years. So while the magical books haven’t changed to keep up with the times, the non-magical ones had. Making the non-magical easier to follow. In the case of the history books though, that seemed to actually be the downfall of the non-magical method. The writers in that field seemed to be tired of their subject and were just conveying facts. While the magical text was apparently written by someone with a real passion for the subject, and included many little anecdotal stories, which spiced up the reading.

Soon enough it was the last day of his stay and the small family gathered to open gifts from each other. Harry was surprised again as he sat on the floor with everyone else. He actually felt like a part of this family despite how little time he had spent with them. His mind wandered a little as John began handing out presents. He thought of playing chess with the man, talking about classes and his concerns for his future, while sipping hot chocolate. He pondered on the flour fight he had with Jean, and chatting about what he wanted to do about the Dursley’s as they cleaned up after, still laughing about John and Hermione’s reaction when they walked in to find half the kitchen covered in flour. And Hermione, he had never known what it was like to have a sibling, but as he contemplated studying together, arguing over homework and classes, and falling asleep on each other’s shoulders watching movies he realized that if he could choose a sister for himself, it would be Hermione.

A hand waving in front of his face pulled him out of his thoughts. “Earth to Harry.” Hermione was saying. “Come in Harry, are you there?”

“Yeah.” He said mock slapping her hand away. “Just thinking about how awesome you all are.” He smiled around at them, and picked up a biscuit from the plate Jean had set between them. Biting into it he winked. “It’s the biscuits. Yes, definitely the biscuits.” Everyone laughed.

“Well, while you were contemplating the joy of biscuits we were deciding that you should start.” Jean smiled at his antics. “Not sure if you’ve ever done this before, but we always open gifts one at a time going around. So no one feels left out. So go ahead, pick one.”

Nodding Harry reached for a package whose tag said it was from Hermione. “Okay, let’s see what’s in here.” 

Hermione had gotten him a collection of music to add to his magical recorder, explaining that he needed a larger library. John had gotten him a set of books, muggle fiction books, the Lord of the Rings including the Hobbit, the Chronicles of Narnia, and the Dark is Rising series. Harry just had to hug the man for such a thoughtful gift. Jean gave him a set of camping cook books and a promise that he would have an opportunity to try all the recipes over the summer, as they were planning a trip somewhere, and when Hermione had told them of his love of camping John had gotten excited. “You have no idea how long it’s been since I went camping Harry, these two aren’t really fans.” That had everyone laughing for a good five minutes.

Harry had thought long and hard about what to get the Grangers. For Hermione he had commissioned a trunk like his. With John’s help he had selected a hope chest style trunk with shrinking, featherlight, and security charms. It had two compartments, a large library room, which they had furnished with a desk and many shelves, and a closet space for clothes.  
For John and Jean he had gotten a set of magical theory books, so they could learn about what he and Hermione were studying at school. And the gift they loved most, he presented them with a set of communication mirrors. They would keep the larger one here at home, while Hermione carried the small hand mirror to school. The shop that sold them explained that they were specifically designed for parents to talk with their children who were off at Hogwarts. Simply say whatever activation word you choose, most choose the name of the person who has the other mirror. And they would appear in your mirror, allowing you to speak to one another. The family had fun testing the mirrors for several minutes before they all tackled Harry into a group hug. John and Jean thanking Harry profusely for giving them the means for keeping in touch with their daughter.

The following morning it was time to go to the Weasleys.

Mr. Weasley arrived bright and early through the floo. He quickly explained how the floo network worked and that he had the Grangers connected for the day. He was a tall man with thinning red hair that Harry noted matched Ron’s in color. With hugs and farewells Harry stepped into a fireplace filled with green flames and called out “The Burrow.”

“Welcome Harry!” Cried several voices as he fell out of the fireplace on the other end. While he wanted to rise and greet everyone, he found himself unable to do more than hold in the urge to lose his breakfast on the floor.

“Harry are you okay?” Asked one of the twins leaning over him.

“Too much spinning.” Harry managed to get out before an enormous weight landed on him. Mr. Weasley had come through and apparently tripped over Harry’s feet.

Still holding in his breakfast Harry decided to lay still among the jumble of arms and legs that was himself, Mr. Weasley, and the twin who had come to check on him.

“Arthur, George. Cried a female voice above them. The voice was loud, clearly worried, and strangely gentle. Looking up Harry was able to connect the voice with a slightly round, red haired woman. She was clearly the mother of the twins, they had almost her exact shade of red hair, and they shared her nose, and ears. As he began looking around the rest of the room she leaned down and started helping the three of them to their feet.

“Come on Harry, up you get.” Laughed Fred as he helped Harry to his feet. “First time in a floo? It’s a little rough but you get used to it. At least you didn’t spew, we both did our first time.” He jerked his head to one side indicating his twin.

“Come, come, sit.” Mrs. Weasley ushered them over to a table. “Here, drink.” She offered up hot tea. “It’s good that you’re safe at least.”

“Yeah mate, can’t have you getting all injured before you’ve met everyone.” Fred waved at the mass of redheads in the room.

Harry waved, “Hello everyone. It’s nice to meet you. Thank you for welcoming me into your home.” He nodded to the elder Weasley’s.

“You’re quite welcome Harry.” Said Mr. Weasley. “Here, allow me to introduce everyone. You of course know the twins and Ron. And I think you’ve met Percy and Ginny.” Harry nodded. “Well then, only a few more then. I’m Arthur, this is my wife Molly, and these are our eldest, Bill and Charlie.” He indicated the last two in the room.

Bill was taller than his father with long coppery hair and what looked like a fang dangling from one ear. Charlie was only as tall as his mother, but broad and very muscular. His bare arm bore a shiny burn mark that was clearly quite recent.

“Hello Harry.” The two said together, reminding Harry of the twins. They smiled at each other.

“Been a while since we managed that.” Bill said.

“Yeah, probably being around the twins. They do it so much.” Charlie replied.

“Hey, don’t,” Fred began.

“Blame us for,” George continued.

“Your silliness.” Fred finished.

“Oh stop that you two.” Molly chided her sons. “You’ll give our guest a headache.” She seemed to think this was a perfect argument against her twins antics.

“Mum, Harry’s used to it.”

“He is one of our best friends you know.”

“Boys, please don’t tease your mother. I’d very much like to enjoy meals over the holiday.” The entire room turned paling faces to Arthur.

“She wouldn’t make us eat bad food, would she.” Ron intoned, going slowly red as he spoke.

“Never.” Said Percy a little pompously. “But she would withhold pudding. And perhaps enforce manners. Although that might be an improvement.”

“Yeah, let’s not make mum angry.” Added Bill. “It’s never good to anger mum.”

“In keeping with that idea let’s show Harry where he’ll be sleeping.” Fred said to his twin.

“Good idea brother mine. Let’s.” George grabbed Harry and hauled him to his feet. The two rushed Harry down the hall towards the stairs.

The twins room was on the third floor of the house, which apparently had five floors. As Harry expected the room was a mess, but not at all dirty. There were books and objects scattered everywhere, and the twins simply plopped onto their beds, motioning to the camp bed set against the opposite wall.

“Now Harry. There’s something we’ve been meaning to ask you about.” Began Fred.

George continued. “Unfortunately with the attacks, mid term exams and our various projects we kept putting it off.”

“Now that you’re here though,” Fred kept going.

“And we have free time.” George added.

“Will you please tell us how your dad and his friends got their titles?” The two ended together making huge puppy eyes at him.

Harry burst out laughing at the pleading looks. He couldn’t help it, it was rare for the twins to act like that, and it was funny to see it. “Yeah, sure. But you have to promise not to tell anyone else. The reason for their names is very secret.” Once the twins nodded, placing their hands solemnly over their hearts he continued. “They were named for their animagus forms. Prongs was a stag, Padfoot a big black dog, Wormtail a rat, and Moony, Moony is the biggest secret.” He gave the twins a grave look, hoping to imply just how important it was to keep this secret. “Moony was a werewolf, which is why the others became animagi. An animagus generally won’t be attacked by a werewolf when in animal form, and if the werewolf does attack the curse can’t be transferred to an animal. Moony was one of their best friends, so they found a way to spend the full moon with him.”

The twins were dumbstruck. For several long moments they sat and stared at him. Finally George shook himself free of his surprise. “Wow Harry thats, just wow.”

“Agreed brother.” Fred had apparently broken himself out of his stupor as well. “And a very useful thing to know. I wonder if we could do it?”

“Ooh, brother mine, you do come up with the best ideas. What do you say Harry? Would you like to become an animal?”

The green eyed wizard blinked. The twins had come to the same conclusion he had, and in half the time. He smirked at their smiles. “I’m already halfway there.”

The total shock on the twins faces made his momentary worry worth it. They looked a bit like they had been walloped by an animated plush dragon. Which actually gave Harry an idea for a project.

“Will you show us?” The twins chorused once they found their voices again.

“Yeah, okay. You’ll have to wait until we’re back at Hogwarts though. I can’t manage the transformation on my own yet, I’m still working with the potion, and I can only do that once a month or the whole process gets screwed up. I did it just before we left so I won’t be able to do it again until after we get back.”

The twins looked at each other and nodded. “Okay, can you tell us how to do it then?”

“Sure.” For the next couple of hours he went over the process with them and discussed how and where to get the mandrake leaves and other supplies they would need. They finished just as Mrs. Weasley called them down for dinner.

The next day Harry began putting his holiday plan into action. Step one, get Bill alone for a chat.  
“Hey Bill, would you mind talking to me about something private?” He asked at breakfast.

The whole family looked at him, but thankfully only Bill responded. “Sure Harry, after breakfast okay with you?”

“Yeah that’d be great.” Harry said smiling. The remainder of breakfast was boisterous. The Weasleys were not at all concerned with ceremony and often talked over each other. Being a little overwhelmed by all the noise Harry opted to remain quiet and eat. To his surprise though Mr. Weasley had invited him to sit next to the older man and asked Harry all about various muggle things throughout the meal.

He was pleased when the meal ended and he could escape outside for a chat with Bill.

“So, what did you want to talk about Harry?” Bill opened as they stepped outside.

The chilly winter air acted almost like a balm as Harry took a deep breath. His head cleared and he was able to think again after the raucous noise of the breakfast table. “Two things actually. I was hoping you would help with Fred and George’s present. I want to hide it you see, and then have a map under the tree, so they have to go on a treasure hunt to find it.”

Bill stopped walking and turned to look at Harry, blinking in astonishment. “Harry that’s, that’s..” And he leaned back and laughed. “That’s excellent Harry. Can I put mine there too? The look on their faces will be priceless. I can’t wait.” Leaning forward he reached out a hand to rest on Harry’s shoulder. He seemed to be having some difficulty with standing. “Yes Harry, I’ll be glad to help with that.”

Harry punched the air. “Yes! Thanks Bill.”

“You’re welcome Harry.” The redhead wiped a tear from his eye. “That was a good laugh, thank you Harry. Now what was the other thing you wanted to talk about?”

“Umm, the twins told me you’re a curse breaker for Gringotts. Is that right?” At Bills nod of confirmation he continued. “I’m interested in doing that myself. I was wondering if you would tell me a bit about the job, maybe recommend which classes to really pay attention to. And if you can, share some stories about what the work is actually like.”

‘Yeah, I can do that.” Bill smiled broadly and soon launched into a tale of his first expedition into one of the pyramids. It involved booby traps, mummy’s and somehow a rubber goose. They laughed and chatted their way around the burrow looking for a good place to hide the twins gifts.

This week seemed to go a little slower than the last, though that was likely due to there being so many people here, and all the various attempts they made at getting closer to Harry. Arthurs was perhaps the most inspired. He invited Harry out to his shed where he had numerous non-magical device’s laid out. There were toaster ovens, microwaves, radios, a television set, and even an old ford anglia. Most of theses things had been opened up with their innards lying around them. Harry was momentarily reminded of one of the horror movies he had watched with John, Maximum Overdrive, in which household objects had come alive and tried to kill everyone. He had found rather amusing really, however there had been a scene somewhat similar to this shed.

Arthur picked up one of the tools from the bench and began rotating it through his fingers. He looked very nervous. “Harry, usually I would be talking about all these wonderful things, and what I’ve managed to learn about them. I take them apart you see, and then try to put them back together. We don’t have ecltricity so I can’t test them, but I try to put spells on them to make them work. Sometimes I get odd results. But that’s not what I wanted to talk to you about right now. Now please don’t be mad, but the twins told me a rather disturbing story and I wanted to confirm that it was accurate, and not something they came up with as a joke, before I do anything about it.” He gave Harry a very serious look, which made Harry feel he needed to say something.

“What did they tell you?” He asked wondering if they had told the older man about how he dropped classes, or pranked students and teachers alike. He was surprised however when Mr. Weasley continued, it wasn’t anything to do with school.

“They told me that your previous guardians were, abusive. Again please don’t be mad, they had to tell me in order to explain why you needed a new home. I made them tell me everything. However I need to be sure of what exactly abusive means in this case. There are some rather immense legal ramifications if what I’m thinking is correct.”

Harry, who had been fidgeting after the revelation that the twins had shared that bit of information, stopped. “Legal ramifications?”

“Yes Harry, there are laws against abusing magical children. Any form of abuse can lead to very dangerous outbursts of accidental magic. And if the abuse is directed towards the accidental magic itself, it can cause a child to try to suppress their magic. That can lead to some very bad consequences. I work at the ministry of magic you see, so if you need help with legal things, I can be of some help. I’m not very popular at the moment, and the office I work in is a bit limited, but some help is better than no help.”

“I don’t understand. Are you saying that my aunt and uncle could be tried under wizard law? But their muggles.” Harry was now wringing his hands to let off some of the emotions which were building up inside him.

Mr. Weasley pulled a stool out from under a table and motioned to a second which pulled itself out from another table. When both were sat he reached over and laid a hand across Harry’s stilling them. “Possibly, it depends on several circumstances. The more I know about what happened, the more I can help you figure out. If you’re willing to tell me.” He said very gently.

Harry considered his options, he could tell the man everything. He wasn’t actually opposed to doing so. He just had never seen it actually help, and had decided to keep it to himself, as he hated the pitying looks he got. However with the wards gone that had kept him at the Dursley’s Mr. Weasley might actually be able to do something. On the other hand, he could say nothing and let things remain as they were. That would keep the status quo so to speak, except he wasn’t sure how he felt about that. He knew he wanted a few things to change, but he didn’t know how to change the things he wanted without changing the things he wanted to stay as they are. He realized that talking with Mr. Weasley might help him to learn, with that in mind, he began to speak.

It only took fifteen minutes to tell the story, which included showing Arthur his back and explaining what he could remember of what had induced the various injuries. When he was done Arthur was looking a bit pale, and very grave.

“Well, your aunt can definitely be tried under wizard law. She has known about magical society and law for long enough. Your uncle I don’t know about. If your aunt told him about magic when they married he would be liable under our laws. If he only learned after you were taken there he may not be. I’ll have to check on that.”

“What would happen to them if they were tried under wizard law?”

“They would go to Azkaban, our prison. That would be truly terrible for them.”

“Apart from being forced to be around magic, which they certainly hate, what would make it worse than a non-magical prison?”

“The dementors, a race of beings which suck all the happiness from a person. While they are near you can only recall the worst moments of your life. There are defenses against them of course, but they are very difficult, and not even most wizards are capable of doing it. A pair of muggles, they’d have no chance. I don’t think I would recommend having them tried under our laws, but if you want to, I will help you.”

“I, I think, I need to think about it for a bit. I had come up with a plan to sue them under the muggle laws. And it seems like a bad idea to make a decision like that on the spot. Thank you for telling me about it though.”

“You’re quite welcome Harry. Glad I can help.” Arthur was starting to regain some of his color and he tried a half smile. “Now what do you say we talk about some of these wonderful contraptions, to clear the sour mood?” This time he smiled almost brightly.

Harry offered a similar smile and reached for one of the nearby toasters. “Okay, how about this one?”

After dinner that evening Harry finally had time to himself and sat down in his private library to read the new letter from his dad. The twins, Ron, and Ginny had been ordered by their mother to clean the kitchen. Percy was in his room, doing homework, he said. Bill and Charlie had gone to visit friends. And Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had settled on the sofa to enjoy the wizarding wireless network. Thus Harry had at least a few minutes to himself.

With trembling hands he picked up the letter from where he had left it on his desk.

Harry, 

If you’re anything like me you’ve finished only about a quarter of the student journals before gaining access to these. I was in rather a hurry. I looked up how to make communication mirror’s in the family library, and had a set completed before the end of summer after first year. Though I still had to wait until the next summer before I could get back into my vault.

Regardless of whether you have followed my example, or blazed your own path, I am proud that you have reached this milestone. These journals, like those you received before will help you on whatever path you choose. The first were written mainly when their authors were students at Hogwarts. These were written during apprenticeships. My own apprenticeship was undertaken in magical architecture, the art of designing buildings. It was my hope to design a new kind of home that would withstand any attack. I know, I know a bit far reaching, but as my mother used to tell me, reach for the stars. Always try to do more than you think you can Harry, that way when you don’t quite reach your aim, you’ll still be great but remember to be humble.

I love you son, James Charluss Potter

P.S. I wanted to include your mothers journals with these. Unfortunately, she refused to give them to me. I think she was worried I might read them, maybe she wrote down something embarrassing. I’m pretty sure she hid them somewhere in the house though, if you’re feeling brave you could go looking for them.

Lowering the letter back to the desk Harry stared at the new shelf in his library. He had set it next to the first, the student journals, which he had almost read through half of, and he still needed to look at all the items. Sure there were only eight of them, but he kept putting it off. Maybe it was time to finally do that.

As he moved towards the shelf holding the journals and items he heard voices coming from outside the library. A moment later the twins walked in.

“Oi, Harry, studying again are you?”

“Don’t you know that will turn you into Percy?”

“Yeah, unless you’re figuring out a new prank.”

Harry smiled at the twins. “Hey guys. No I got another shelf of journals from dad. I was starting to look through them, and remembered that I still haven’t actually looked at all the stuff on the first shelf yet. Wanna join me?”

“Harry,” Fred began.

“We would be honored.” George finished. 

They both laid hands across their hearts. “Marauders Honor, we won’t mess with anything.” They said together, identical serious looks on their faces.

It only took twenty minutes to read through the cards on each object, and look over the objects themselves. Along with the bottle of sleek-eazy's there was a set of quills labelled as self inking. A pot of colour changing ink. A small portrait, the card claiming that it was the first moving portrait ever made, by Erastuimus Potter in 304 AD. A bottle of skele-gro which the card said was no longer any good, but kept here as an example. A wand, according to the card it was birch wood with a core of unicorn hair and was the masterpiece of Aurelius Potter in 234 AD. A goblet sat in the second to last space, the card stated it to be representative. The invention here was a charm, specifically the refilling charm, invented by Careful Potter in 647 AD. The last was easily the most incredible, a pensieve. The card explained what it was for and indicated that more complete instruction could be found in several of the student journals. Harry had already found a few of those but had not yet found real instructions on the use of a pensieve. Still that he had one was amazing. The card said this one still worked, but was not quite as good as the more recently made ones.

“Wow, Harry this is amazing. Your ancestors must have been pretty smart.” George offered into the silence that had gripped them as they looked over objects and read the cards.

“Yeah, too bad it didn’t pass on.” Fred said slyly, winking at his brother. Harry reached over and smacked him on the shoulder.

“If I hadn’t inherited some of their smarts I wouldn’t have you two for friends. I must have gotten some of those brains, or else I’d be hanging out with Malfoy, or someone else equally as repulsive.”

“Oh, nice recovery Harry. He got you there Gred.”

“I heard him Feorge, and I agree Harry-kins. A most excellent come back.”

“So, what shall we do with the rest of the evening?” Asked George.

“We've only got an hour or so before bed time. I think we should do something noisy until everyone else goes to bed. Then we can read a bit before sleep.” Harry offered.

“We made the right call when we decided to hang out with you Harry.” Fred said.

They did indeed play exploding snap for the next hour before Mrs. Weasley came to tell them to quiet down for bed. After that they each grabbed a book and settled down to read.

In the morning though Harry got a surprise in the form of the twins hauling him into the library.  
“Harry,” They said together after sitting him on the chair. “Where did you get goblin made stuff?”

“What?” Replied Harry groggily, still rubbing sleep out of his eyes.

“Harry, I went to return the journal I borrowed last night. Not sure how but when I opened your trunk it was full of weird stuff, like an axe, some odd light thing, and a bunch of goblin made things. I promise I wasn’t snooping, it just sort of fell on me. But where did you get goblin made stuff?”

“Umm,” Harry’s mouth went dry. Were they mad at him? Looking closer he saw that they were worried rather than angry. “Okay, okay, there’s this room at Hogwarts. It’s full of junk. Seriously mostly broken stuff, but some of it’s still good. And a lot of it, like the axe can be repaired. I found it around mid-november first year. When I finally had some time to sort through some of the junk, I found a few valuable things. Given that goblin made items are really valuable I was thinking I might be able to sell them. Although I’m not sure who would buy them, or how much I could get for them. I was planning to look into that over the summer.” He looked between the twins wondering what they would do with this information.

“A room you say?” Began Fred.

“I’d ask Bill.” Offered George.

“Will you show us?” Continued Fred.

“He works for the goblins.” George said.

“Whoa, whoa, slow down you two.” Harry said with a laugh. “Yes Fred I will show you the room. George, are you sure Bill would help? Also, how should I approach him?”

They talked for a few minutes working out a plan for Harry to talk to Bill about how to go about selling off the goblin made objects he had acquired.

“Hey Bill you got a minute?” Harry asked after breakfast.

“Yeah sure, is it time to do the thing?” Bill responded with a wink.

“Now Harry, it isn’t nice to keep secrets.” Piped up Fred

“Yeah you should share.” Added George.

“Unless we’re discussing your present. Which if you want to receive you should leave us be.” Harry narrowed his eyes at the twins in a mock glare. All three of them burst out laughing after a moment. This was in fact, part of the plan. The adults, and other teens, would be more likely to ignore them, if they thought Harry and Bill were discussing presents for the twins.

The twins looked at each other then in unison stuck their noses into the air. “Well, if that’s the case. Then we shall see you later.” They sniffed and strutted away. Mrs. Weasley broke out in titters at that.

Chuckling Bill led Harry out the door. “Fortunately I was thinking on the same line, so I have their present shrunk in my pocket. Hope you don’t mind, I told Charlie about the plan and he asked to add his present to the pile.”

“No that’s great.” Said Harry, smiling. “I’m glad I came up with an idea that so many people like.”

“You certainly did that. Here we go, how do you want to lay them out?” Bill indicated the spot they had selected for the twins presents to be hidden.

They got the gifts in place before Harry opened the subject he really wanted to talk about. “So, the twins said you might be able to help with a question I have about goblin made objects.”

“Possibly, depends on what the question is.”

Well, I have a few, from my vault.” He and the twins had decided on this small lie for this discussion because it was easier than trying to explain the room, and they felt he would be able to get the information he needed without going into detail. “And I want to sell a couple of them. Unfortunately because of the Malfoy’s theft my parents didn’t have much gold to leave, and I’m curious if I can bolster what I have by selling some of the items they managed to save.”

“Well, that’s a little tricky. There are a few places you can sell such things in diagon alley. You won’t be able to get what their really worth though. Most people can’t afford them, and those that can, don’t buy from the shops that would take them off your hands. If you want to get the best price you would have to sell them through gringotts, however that annoys the goblins.”

“If it bothers them why do they do it?” Harry asked, confused.

“Well, it has to do with goblin culture. You see to a goblin the only true owner of an object is the maker. Many of them see our habit of passing goblin made items down to family members or selling them to new owners as little more than theft. They agree to assist in the practice mostly so they can keep track of who has things they consider to be theirs.”

“So, could I sell them back to the goblins?”

Bills eyes lit up. “Ooh, that’s a good question. In short, no. However there have been a few instances of items recovered from lost tombs and the like being returned for a fee, or a reward. You could try to make a deal like that. You wouldn’t get as much as you would if you sold them to a collector, but you would get some goodwill from the goblins. Those who do that are generally given better service at the bank, and sometimes even get discounts for certain services.”

Harry smiled broadly. “I like that idea. They seem like mostly decent people, at least those I’ve talked to. Their culture is a bit different but in an interesting way. At least as far as I can tell. Do you have any advice on how to approach them? And who I should talk to?”

“Well if you really want to get serious about it. Learn gobbledygook. That’s their language, they respect those who speak to them in their own language. As for who to talk to, start with a vault manager. They’ll get you in touch with one of the buyers authorized to make deals of that nature.”

“Where do I learn gobbledygook? I don’t think they offer that at Hogwarts.”

“They really don’t, and I wish they did. It would have been really useful to know that before I tried to hire on at the bank. I’m learning, but it’s a slow process. There are faster ways, but I can’t afford them. And really by the time I can save up enough, I should be able to learn it normally anyway. I’ll write down a list of books to start you off. If you want to look into the faster method I can tell you where and how to find them, the rest is up to you.”

“Okay, thanks Bill. The twins were right you know. You’re pretty awesome.”

“Well, I’ll have to find a way to thank them for that. And thanks to you for sharing.” He smiled and threw an arm over Harry’s shoulders. They switched to less volatile topics as they strolled back to the house.

The rest of Harry’s stay was fairly bland except for christmas morning when the family gathered, much as the Grangers had in the family room around the tree.

Harry was a little worried about how the gifts he had gotten for everyone would be received. Which proved to be unnecessary, as everyone was well pleased. For Ginny, he had made another jewelry box. He had done a slightly better job on this one, which he chalked up to experience, the girl and her parents cooed over the gift and made comments about the expense until he explained that he had transfigured it. For Percy he had found a magical briefcase that would hold all his paperwork and supplies, and could be shrunk to fit in his pocket. He explained that he knew Percy had ministerial aspirations and that such business like things would be useful. Percy hugged him heartily and seemed extremely pleased. For Ron he got a book on chess strategies, the same one he had used last year, this copy though had a list of muggle chess tournaments for the upcoming year attached, several of which offered prize money to the top places. Ron was chatting with his father about which ones they could enter as soon as the presents were all opened. For Charlie he had put together a collection of all the charms and potion recipes he could find that seemed like they would be helpful on a dragon preserve. One of which he explained was developed by his some number of greats grandmother for her brother who had been a dragon hunter, and often got burns. Charlie declared that most of them he knew but there were a few he hadn’t seen before, and the one from Harry’s grandmother was special due to it being a family spell. He offered Harry his hand and declared that such a gift demanded he be recognized as a brother. Bill had been the toughest, but he finally settled on a trunk, similar to Hermione’s, but with smaller spaces. Bill declared it to be a great choice as he always had trouble packing, there being more for him to pack than he had room for. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley’s gift arrived as they were starting to clean up the wrapping paper which had gotten everywhere. Hedwig flew into the room and landed on Harry’s shoulder, preening his hair as usual. Following after her was a large brown barn owl, which landed on top of a pile of presents for family and friends who were not present. It turned its head and looked around at everyone in the room. When the elder Weasley’s learned that this owl was their gift from Harry they tried to protest. After he explained that Bills trunk cost twice what the owl did they gave up and hugged him profusely.

As Harry went through his small pile of presents he was surprised to see one that wasn’t from the Weasley’s. Hagrid had sent his gift here as well. Opening it he found that Hagrid had sent him several photos of Harry and his friends around Hogwarts. A note accompanied the photos explaining that he could put them in his photo album so he would always be able to look back on his own memories as well as his parents. Pictures of himself with his quidditch team, of him and the twins splashing in the lake, he and Hermione in the library, and so on. He picked up the one of himself with Norbert the young dragon and showed it to Charlie, who exclaimed that he must visit Hogwarts to meet the norwegian ridgeback. The elder Weasley’s had gotten him a selection of used books on enchantment which he declared to be amazing as he had been eyeing them. Mrs. Weasley had also made him a new jumper which he instantly pulled on and stated was even warmer than the first. Ron had gotten him a book titled flying with the cannons, about his favorite quidditch team. As it included details of some their favorite tactics Harry decided it was a good choice. Ginny had written him some poetry, which thought was cute even if it wasn’t very good. Percy had gotten him a study planner and explained that he had found it very useful during his OWL year. Charlie had given him a dragon claw pendant which he explained could be worn on a chain as a necklace or attached to an earring if he wanted to be like Bill. Mrs. Weasley yelled at him that Harry was too young for earrings. Bill got him a book on wards that Harry almost started reading on the spot. And the twins had gotten him a pass for the Ottery St. Catchpole public library. They explained that if Harry was going to live here he would need entertainment and they knew how much he loved reading.

The twins returned from their treasure hunt red and huffing from the cold, but cheerfully jostling each other as they carried in their packages. The adults had looked a bit confused at the map they had opened from Harry, until it had been explained. They took on looks of fond exasperation at that and laughed as the twins ran for the door. Returning to their seats the twins tore into their last packages. Bill had gotten them a few prank products from a shop in Egypt and a catalog of the other things the store carried. Mrs. Weasley pursed her lips at that but said nothing. Charlie had gifted them a small collection of dragon parts for potion making, explaining that the dragons at the preserve rub scales off on rocks all the time, and that they collect blood once a week from several of the dragons, so it wasn’t too difficult to grab a few things for the twins. Harry had gotten each of them a journal with a note that said they would know what to write in them, he also gave them his first magical creation, a new magical music recorder, so they could have their own music wherever they wanted. They jumped up and hugged Harry so hard he couldn’t breathe.

A few days later it was time to go to the Lovegoods. This time Arthur, the twins, and Ginny were going with him. Apparently the Lovegoods lived only a couple of miles away, so they took the car. Along the way Arthur explained how he had enchanted the car to fly and become invisible, but that he wasn’t supposed to use those features as it was technically illegal.

A round house with crenelations across the top making it look rather like a chess rook, came into view as they turned the last bend of the trip. A large garden was visible beneath the coating of snow. It surrounded most of the house, and included several clearly magical plants. As they approached the door Harry noticed a bush with floating fruit, the fruit looked like it was actually trying to fly away.

With a quick knock, Arthur summoned the inhabitants. The door opened to reveal an older man, with thin graying hair. While he was a bit wrinkled he seemed spry and quick as he motioned everyone inside.

The interior of the house was warm, and quite cozy. There were doilies scattered everywhere, which was notable due to the stacks of magazines, and fairly small amount of seating.

“Come in, come in, sit, sit.” the elder Lovegood motioned to the table which took up one side of the room. With a wave of his wand he transfigured several magazines into extra chairs, a second wave had the new chairs arranging themselves around the table.

The twins smiled at each other and turned to Mr. Lovegood. “May we get the tea Mr. Lovegood?” They asked in unison.

“Certainly boys, Ginny, would get Luna? She’s upstairs in her room.”

“Sure Mr. Lovegood. I’ll be right back.” Ginny headed for a curtain hanging off to another side of the room. As she moved it aside Harry saw the stairs it had hidden. She disappeared up them.

Mr. Lovegood turned to Harry at last. “Now I expect that you are Harry, is that right?”

“Yes sir. Harry Potter, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” Harry offered his hand.

The elder Lovegood tilted his head slightly then drew himself up to stand rigidly straight. He took Harry’s hand and in a somber voice said. “I welcome you to my home young Potter. May you find it as warm and inviting as your own.” As he let go of Harry’s hand he started chuckling. “Oh, my I haven’t done anything like that in ages. We don’t stand much on ceremony here young man. So long as we treat each other with respect, we’re all happy. Sit.” And he took a seat himself and looked over at the twins.

The twins had drawn their wands and a little to Harry’s surprise were conducting a sort of ballet, as they made cups, dishes, sugar, lemon slices, and a pot of steaming tea to fly around the table serving everyone. They seemed to know how everyone liked their tea as they didn’t wait for anyone to request. The adults simply smiled.

“What about the underage magic laws?” Harry felt compelled to ask. Mrs. Weasley had been adamant about not allowing her children to practice magic at home.

“Ah, yes, well, please don’t tell Molly, but I’ve never agreed with those.” Arthur said.

“Nor I.” Stated Mr. Lovegood. “You may do whatever magic you like here Harry. So long as it doesn’t hurt anyone. The twins know my rules on it are quite happy to comply.”

“Yeah, especially since we get to actually do magic here.” Fred smiled at Harry. “This place is great, you’re gonna love it here.”

At that moment, Ginny came back into the room, Luna drifting along in her wake. “Oh, tea. Yes please. Which one is mine?” She said as they reached the table. George motioned to one of the empty seats and they joined the table.

A relatively brief conversation ensued during which mr. Lovegood introduced himself as Xenophilius, and insisted on being called Xeno. He also told Harry the rules of the house, which were simple enough, and included things like the gnomes are to remain in the garden. Though he called them gnomblies. After the discussion of rules the adults began discussing the latest ministry dealings, and the younger crowd chatted about Yule.

Harry was still a little surprised, that the only real difference between Yule and Christmas, was that Yule was celebrated on the winter solstice, though the Lovegoods had pushed back some of their celebrations to New Years eve, for Harry’s visit. He resolved to look up more information on the topic later. Perhaps that library pass would be useful after all.

Soon enough it was time for the Weasley’s to depart. With hugs and farewells Arthur reminded Harry that they were only a couple miles away if he needed anything, and then they were off down the road headed home again.

“Well Harry. Now that it’s just us.” Xeno turned to smile at Harry. “We would normally have a fairly quiet evening reading in the library, or playing zentoss a fine game for learning to recognize spells, creatures, and certain artifacts. However, as we have a guest, is there anything you would like to do?”

“Well, I’ve never played zentoss, I’d be glad to learn though. I also enjoy reading so I’d be good with that too. Nothing else springs to mind, so really whatever is fine with me.” Harry replied after a moment's thought.

“Zentoss!” Cheered Luna. “I love that game. No one at Hogwarts plays. Probably because it’s mostly for younger kids. We added some extra creatures and artifacts to ours though.” She clapped a little as she spoke and ran for a shelf. A moment later she came back carrying a box.  
The game turned out to be a bit like a cross between old maid, go fish, and gin rummy, in that they were constantly trading cards and building sets to score points. Harry could see why a lot of people would abandon it by Hogwarts. There were no explosions, and only the pictures on the cards moved. It was quite educational though, Harry managed to learn to recognize a few new spells and several new creatures. The Lovegoods had indeed added to the deck. He saw nargles, wrackspurts, and crumple-horned snorkacks amongst the cards. He couldn’t identify the artifacts they had added as he didn’t know what the deck had included in the first place.

Eventually they broke for dinner, after which Xeno had to quit to do some work for his magazine the Quibbler. Luna led Harry to the library, which was immense, and the two spent the rest of the evening reading quietly. Harry pulled out the lord of the rings and started on those.

His time with the Lovegoods passed quietly. The little family unit was rarely loud, though Harry saw that there was a lot of love in the home. Each morning they would gather for breakfast and chat about their plans for the day. Most days Xeno would have work to do for the Quibbler. Most days Luna would lead Harry around the garden and grounds, telling him all she knew about the various plants and creatures, some of which was rather different from what was in their books. Then they would join Xeno for lunch, after which they would play a round of zentoss, or discuss the things the younger two had seen that day, or chat about the articles Xeno was writing for the Quibbler. In the evening after dinner they would all retire to the library and read. Harry was pleased to say that by the end of the holiday he had managed to finish a read through of the lord of the rings, and had begun a read of the dark is rising.

Near midnight on New Year's Eve they exchanged gifts. Luna received a new journal from her father and a book on rare creatures from Harry that he had found in the lost and found room at Hogwarts. Xeno got a model of a crumple-horned snorkack from Luna and a set of dictiquills from Harry who explained that while he wasn’t sure what Xeno would like he knew he did a lot of writing for the Quibbler and so would probably appreciate the lack of hand cramping. Harry was amazed at his own gifts from the Lovegoods. Luna had gotten him a new trunk, the same steamer style he had been using but this one had four compartments, two ten by ten, one large closet, and one forty by forty.

“I heard you saying that you needed a larger trunk, because you were running out of space. Also it pairs well with daddy’s present.” She smiled gently at him.

“Thank you Luna, this is unexpected, but very thoughtful.”

Xeno had gotten Harry a new tent. This one had multiple rooms as well. Two bedrooms, a washroom, a brewing room, kitchen, and sitting room.

“We are planning an expedition this summer. We’ll be spending three weeks near the end of the holiday in Sweden, mostly out in the country. So you’ll need a good tent. Luna said you had one already, but not being sure of what exactly you have I wanted to be certain that you had one that would serve. This one has really good warming charms, which are needed in cold environs, also the muggle repelling charms can be updated. Simply apply a drop of blood from anyone you want to be able to enter, to the ward stone set in the center pole and they will be ignored by the wards.”

Harry sat there gobsmacked for several moments before he found his voice. “Thank you Xeno, this is amazing. Thank you.”

The next morning instead of wandering the grounds he and Luna set up both tents and trunks and transferred everything from the old trunk to the new.

Eventually the holiday ended and it was time to return to Hogwarts. Seeing everyone on the platform was great. They all introduced the parents to each other and the kids chatted amiably before boarding the train.

The ride back to Hogwarts was kept jovial, mostly by the twins who had filled their music recorder with wizarding music. Harry decided he liked most of it.


	24. Chapter 24

“We’d like to invite the three of you out to a meal and a chat.” Jean Granger spoke softly to the magical adults they had just been introduced to.

“About Harry.” John Granger added into the silence that followed.

Molly and Arthur shared a look before Molly responded. “Yes of course. That seems like a good idea.”

“I have time today, though I will need to be home before nightfall. Don’t want to give the nargles too much opportunity you know.” Xeno said with a wink.

The Grangers shared a look at the statement wondering what nargles were. “Okay, do you have cars? If not we have room in ours, it might be a little tight though.”

Arthur smiled genially. “We came in ours, we can follow you. Xeno?”

“We apparated in. I’d be happy to ride with one of you.”

A short time later they sat down at a table in a small restaurant. Arthur was looking around with avid curiosity at the non-magical surroundings. Xeno seemed a bit uncomfortable, clearly he had not spent much time outside of magical areas. John and Jean had a bit of fun explaining how to order their meals. Once the food arrived and everyone had tucked in, the conversation finally turned to the reason for the meeting.

“So, did any of you have a chance to talk with Harry about the Dursleys?” Asked John.

“I did.” Said Arthur sadly. “He told me everything. I was appalled. I explained to him a little of how our laws could help with the situation. However he decided to pursue them with the muggle courts. He didn’t think it was quite fair to subject them to the dementors.”

“I should think not.” Molly exclaimed. “As bad as what they did was. Their muggles. They have no way to defend themselves against those things. They wouldn’t last a month in azkaban.”

“I quite agree.” Chimed in Xeno. “Azkaban would hardly be the place for muggles. Besides the crinklebugs that infest even muggle prisons will drive them crazy enough.”

“Umm, yes, well.” John had a slightly confused look, but he tried to move the conversation forward anyway. “We managed to get him in contact with a solicitor before he left our place. Mr. Carsore said he would have everything ready by the beginning of summer holiday, and the trial would take two or three weeks.” 

“Hmm, it would be incredibly difficult to remain in contact with a muggle, solicitor did you call it, while he’s at our place. I would recommend that he stay with one of you at least for that time. Though I was hoping to take him with us for our trip to Sweden later in the summer.” Xeno stated calmly.

Arthur grimaced. “It wouldn’t be much easier with us. Besides, we have been planning a trip to Egypt to visit with our eldest son, who is working there. We will be leaving the day after the kids get back, and will be returning after two weeks.”

All the magicals turned to the Grangers. “We thought that might be the case. The difficulty, not the trip. So we already agreed to have Harry with us for the beginning of the summer. We are planning a trip to France once the trial is done. We’ll be gone for about two weeks, if you like we can bring him to one of your homes when we get back. While we’d love to have him stay with us on a permanent basis, we don’t have the paperwork filed that we would need to, and we received a warning from professor Dumbledore that trying to arrange it could alert Harry’s enemies to his location, which would put us in danger. He said that it would be best if the three of our families took turns housing him.”

Xeno perked up. “I got a similar missive from the headmaster. A bit unusual, but I’m willing to work with the requirement. A little excitement is good for the constitution you know. Keeps the wrackspurts away.”

Molly worked hard to hide a smile, as Arthur chuckled. “Indeed, we got the same message. We won’t be going anywhere of course. The trip to Egypt is sort of a surprise really. I won a prize recently and we got a deal on the travel arrangements. But I’m sure we can do something fun while he’s with us.”

“Well, that went easier than we expected.” Jean said. “Since we got that out of the way, can I interest any of you in dessert? If we’re all going to be Harry’s family it behooves us to get to know each other.” She smiled brightly at the little group.

“Ooh yes please. I’d love to see what muggles do for dessert.” Replied Arthur, receiving a slap on his arm from his wife.

“Arthur be polite. I’m sure they have fine desserts.”

Xeno glanced out the window before replying. “Still light out. Do they have chocolate cake?”

The adults spent the next few hours immersed in shop talk and discussion of the differences between magical and muggle culture.

Jump, dive, roll. Come up with a stunning spell. Dive, fire off a leg locker from the ground, while rolling. Finish roll, string a stinging hex, impedimenta, and stunner from kneeling position. Roll over backwards, come up with a protega. Another string of hexes and jinxes. Jump, dive, roll, repeat.

“Very good mister Potter.” Flitwick called from the table where he was watching the exercise. “Come sit, have a drink, rest. Then one more, this time try to do all the casting silently.”

It was the third day back and they had finally gotten around to adding dodging exercises to his training. It was exhausting, Harry was soaked in sweat even worse than first year when he had run from the dog, and played his first game of chess. It was also fun, despite how tired he was Harry was smiling broadly.

“This is great professor.” He said picking up the cup of tea the short man had set out for him. “I wanted to ask about the mind arts though. I think I understand what I need to do for occlumency now. But I’m not sure if I’m doing it right. Legilimency on the other hand is mystifying.” He cocked his head to one side with a grin. Knowing the professor would understand his question and would take a moment to decide on the best way to answer.

Sure enough Flitwick took a long drink of tea and settled a little more into his seat before finally responding. “Well, the easiest way to test your occlumency is to attempt to read you. The opposite is of course true for legilimency. If you feel you are ready, we have time today.” One eyebrow drew up in a question.

“Yes sir, I’d like that.” Harry was pleased that his voice only quavered a little. “I hope I got it right.”

“Very well. Begin your silent run and then we’ll practice some mind arts.” He wiggled his eyebrows at the end and Harry giggled.

“Yes sir, right away sir.” He attempted a serious tone he had heard in one of the films he had watched over holiday about a military group. Unfortunately he was also trying to hold back a laugh, so it came out rather bubbly.

Chuckling Flitwick waved at the training field. “Go, show me what you can do with silent casting.”

A few minutes later Harry was dripping with sweat again and dragging himself back to the table. Not one spell had been cast, though a few sparks had flown from his wand at one point.

“I don’t get it. I knew I wouldn’t get them all, but I’ve been able to get around one in three attempts to work in practice. Why wouldn’t any of them work today?” Harry was looking rather downcast.

“Not to worry Harry.” Flitwick said consolingly. “It’s the movement. It takes a fair amount of concentration to manage silent casting. You’re getting better at it yes, however it takes even more to do it while rolling on the floor. Hence why we practice.” He smiled broadly and pushed a tray of biscuits towards the messy haired boy.

“Right, practice.” Harry picked up a biscuit. “Right.”

“Okay, lets try some occlumency. I want you to think of a spell, any spell is fine. I’m going to try to read you and determine which spell you’re thinking of. Are you ready?”

“Yes sir.” And he carefully thought of a spell.

“Stupify.” Said Flitwick. “A fine choice for an opening. Did you feel the intrusion?”

“No, I didn’t feel anything. I guess you’re really good at legilimency.”

“Only at this level, I can’t do deeper reads. I never bothered to practice beyond what is useful in a duel. You try. What spell am I thinking of?”

“Okay.” Harry tried to slow his breathing and relax. He closed his eyes and tried to envision reaching out with his mind to see what was in the professors mind. He opened his eyes once he thought he was ready. Looking into his teachers eyes he reached out with his magic. He felt a connection, he started to see something, like a twisting sparkling light pattern, but he lost it. “Damn it. Oh, sorry professor. I almost had it, I saw..something, like a pattern but I lost hold of the spell before I could identify it.”

“Nicely done, most people don’t even get that far on their first try. Have a guess, what would you say the spell was?”

“Umm,” he closed his eyes again and viewed what he had seen in his memory, tried to feel it or maybe taste it. After a moment he looked up. “I think maybe, protega?”

“Yes indeed.” The smaller man perked up and smiled. “Well done mister Potter, ten points to Ravenclaw. Well done. Let’s continue, back and forth, I think. I’ll read you, then you read me, and so on. For about twenty minutes, then I will need to get ready for class.”

The next twenty minutes were grueling, despite his quick success in the beginning Harry only managed to read Flitwick in one out of three attempts. He didn’t manage to keep Flitwick out of his head until halfway through the session, and then only managed it two more times. Still he was getting better, and Flitwick assured him that he only needed more practice.

A week later Harry was in the library finishing his transfiguration homework. He had finally completed his ghost interviews, and still had no idea where the entrance to the chamber was. Though he had learned about several more secret passages that he had added to his map. And heard many tales about the history of Hogwarts and how things had changed over the years.

He was going to share two new secrets with the twins today, the room, and his animagus form. Hermione was helping some of her fellow Gryffindor’s with their homework, and Luna was taking a nap before astronomy so they had the evening to themselves. Or rather they would once the twins got out of charms.

There was an odd commotion at the library entrance though, which was distracting him from his essay. A dozen or so students had just walked in, all chattering away. Turning back to his parchment he tried to tune them out, but to no avail. They were simply too loud, so he waited for Madam Pince to shush them. Which did not take long.

A few minutes later the twins plopped into the seats next to him. He still hadn’t finished his assignment.

“Hey Harry, how’s the homework coming?” Asked Fred.

“It would have been done if not for the mass of chatter.” He said motioning to the milling mass of students still whispering to each other.

“Yeah, we’re gonna have a lot more of that now. Almost every male Gryffindor has dropped out of Lockhart's class. I heard the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws did the same, and even some of the Slytherins.” George offered.

“Well, good for them, but that’s going to make study a bit more difficult.” Harry opined.

“We’ll just have to spend more time somewhere else.” Fred winked as he spoke.

“Indeed oh less pretty twin of mine.” Said George.

“Sounds good.” Harry began packing away his essay and books. “Come on then, let’s do that.”  
He led them through the school to the seventh floor. The two identical boys stood in confusion as Harry paced back and forth in front of a tapestry of dancing trolls. Until a door appeared on the opposite wall.

Leading them inside Harry explained the room. “This is my private brewing lab. I set it up in first year before we met. I use it for personal projects and restocking. Through that door though,” he indicated a door on the far wall, “is one of the things I was planning to show you today. This is the other.” He pulled a small vial from his pocket. “Come on.”

The twins stood in awe, staring slack-jawed at the mountains of junk in the lost and found. “Yeah, I found this shortly after I set up the lab. This room changes into whatever you want it to be, you just have to think of it while you pace back and forth in front of that tapestry. This is where I found those goblin made objects. Of course as you can see, I found a lot of junk first. So, have fun searching, I did. Today though, I have another thing to do.” He waved and got the twins attention. “He held up the vial. Have you gotten your mandrake leaves yet?” When they nodded he continued. “Good, once you’ve done that you can start brewing this. The change lasts four hours, so you have to be sure you have plenty of time available when you use it. I’ll give you guys a few minutes to see my form, then I’m gonna run around in here and see if I can find anything useful more easily as an animal. Are you ready?” Again they nodded and he drank down the potion.

The change was getting easier to follow the more he went through it. At first it seemed to begin with his feet, then it seemed to start at the head. Now he could recognize that it was everywhere at once. The change actually started inside it merely became visible at the head first, and appeared to start at the ground as he sort of fell forward. A moment later he was on the floor in his badger form.

The twins remained staring slack-jawed for several moments before Fred found his voice. “Harry, you’re a badger.”

“He’s a closet Hufflepuff Fred.” Piped in George.

“Come here Harry, I want to see how that fur feels.” Fred giggled.

Harry glowered at the laughing brothers but sidled over so they could reach out and stroke his fur.

“Wow, softer than it looks.” Said George.

“Right you are Gred. But look at those claws. I think we should avoid getting him angry.”

“Agreed Feorge, at least while he’s in this form. Alright Harry go play. We’ll be here looking through junk.”

Hours later Harry rejoined the twins having discovered that his badger form was of little use in finding useful junk. The twins on the other hand, had a small pile of things next to them. Several books, a couple of brooms, and a few other things Harry was uncertain of the use of, were neatly stacked to the side of where the twins were sitting on the floor sorting through a pile.

Sitting down nearby Harry reached for a different junk pile. “Been having fun?” He opened the conversation.

The twins looked over. “Wow, Harry, if you’d been a snake you’d have bit us. Not sure if this counts as fun, but it’s certainly engrossing. We’ve found a few things we think we can use.” George replied as Fred turned back to the pile they were working on.

“Yeah, this is pretty awesome Harry, thanks for sharing it with us.” Said Fred as he examined a broken beaters bat.

“You’re welcome guys. I haven’t gotten to spend a lot of time in here yet, but I always find something interesting when I do.”

“Cheers.” The two said together.

The three of them stayed in the room until curfew.

“We got it!” The twins yelled as Harry and Hermione entered the study room. They stood and gaped at the red heads who were standing on the ceiling.

“How did you?” Wondered Hermione.

“You did it!” Yelled Harry simultaneously with Hermione.

This began a small party to celebrate the twins successful recreation of the walking on walls salve. With many complaints from Hermione about the lack of safety measures taken by the twins. About the time when they were reaching for their second butter beers Luna showed up and joined in the celebration.

A few hours later as they were settling down and considering returning to their dorms Luna finally said something about the reason for the party. “So how did you guys know that I found it?”

“Found what Luna?” Hermione asked as she picked up discarded bottles to be tossed in the rubbish.

“Yeah,” started Fred, “we were.”

“Celebrating getting the walking on walls potion,” Continued George.

“To work.” Finished Fred.

“Oh, I thought we were celebrating because I found the entrance to the chamber.” Luna said dreamily.

All movement in the room stopped as everyone turned to look at the little blonde. Harry found his voice first. “Luna, you found the entrance? Where is it?”

Luna looked around and grew red as she noticed everyone looking at her. “It’s in Myrtle's bathroom. On the second floor, right next to where Filch’s cat was.” She smiled shyly. “Apparently the last person to open the chamber got the basilisk to kill her. She was very pleased to tell me all about it when I asked her.”

“Yes!” The silence of the room was shattered as Harry rushed forward to swing Luna into a hug. “You did it Luna. Now we can stop the basilisk and catch the heir.” 

Picking up on Harry’s mood the twins pulled out more butter beer. “Wel, this calls for another toast.” They said together.

“Umm,” Hermione began, “that’s good, yes. But what do we do now?”

“What do you mean Hermione? We do what Harry said. We stop the basilisk, and catch the heir.” George said as he pressed a bottle into her hand.

“Yeah, what else would do?” Asked Fred as he handed bottles to Harry and Luna.

“Oh Hermione was asking about telling a teacher silly. She wants to know which teachers we will ask for help.” Luna raised her bottle to Hermione before taking a sip.

Picking up the subject Harry too, raised his bottle towards Hermione. “Well, that’s a tricky question. I agree we should probably get some help. Even though we can be sure that our plan will work, it would be nice to have some adult backup in case something goes wrong. Who would you recommend Hermione?”

“I was thinking professor Mcgonagall. She’s our head of house after all.”

“Your’s yes, ours is Flitwick.” Harry replied pointing to Luna. “How about we go talk to him and you guys talk to Mcgonagall? That way we’ll have two adults to help.”

“Umm, that sounds good. Except that we,” George said motioning to his brother.

“Really shouldn’t talk to Mcgonagall. She might think,” Fred continued.

“That we were pulling a prank.” George finished.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before anyone goes nuts over the Weasley trip to Egypt. I am well aware that Arthur won the grand prize galleon draw right after summer holiday began, in cannon. I needed a reason for them to be unable to take Harry immediately after getting off the express, and this was a ready one. So I fudged the timeline a bit for this story. I apologize to the purists, who like me, get angry over blatant changes from cannon. Though I hope that, also like me, you can accept it when it makes sense or helps the story along. :-)


	25. Chapter 25

Knock, knock, knock.

“Come in, how are you mister Potter, miss Lovegood.” Called professor Flitwick from his desk when he looked up at the knocking to see his favorite messy haired student. He was a bit surprised to see him accompanied, but then he had never before visited with another student. He did spend most meals with the young Lovegood though, so perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising.

Harry opened his mouth but found he couldn’t speak. Words simply would not form.

Luna saved him, “We found the entrance to the chamber professor.” She said in her dreamy voice. “We also discovered what the creature is.” She stopped there and smiled at her favorite professor.

Flitwick sputtered, “miss Lovegood that is a rather large claim. While I accept that you speak the truth, others will want proof.”

Finally able to move again Harry reached into a pocket and revealed the small recorder he had filled with rooster crows, the sound filled the room for a moment bringing the conversation to a halt. “Just before the break we realized that the creature must be a basilisk. So I made a small recorder,” he held up the object, “and filled it with rooster crows over the break. We also have been asking the ghosts about the chamber and Luna found it. Moaning Myrtle was the last victim of the basilisk, the entrance is in her bathroom.”

Harry fell silent, not sure what else to say. He was not alone. Flitwick was staring at him slightly slack-jawed. Luna was smiling at him in her usual dreamy fashion.

When the silence grew long Harry found his voice again. “We were planning to go after classes today. We can get rid of the basilisk easily enough, and then we can set a trap for the heir. We thought it might be good to get a teacher to help, if you can.”

The short man blinked and finally pulled himself back together. “When you say we, is this just you two, or is anyone else involved?” He had seen the Granger girl and the Weasley twins sitting with them several times, both at meals and in the library.

Luna turned her smile to the little professor. “Oh yes professor. Hermione and the twins are talking to professor Mcgonagall.”

“Oh, well in that case. I should probably speak with her about the matter before a decision is made. Yes that seems best.” He was trailing off at the end of this scratching at his short beard. He stood and began to pace momentarily but after only a single length of the room he turned to his fireplace and threw in a handful of green powder.

A whoosh of green flame filled the floo and the tiny professor stuck his head in. A moment later Mcgonagall was stepping out with Hermione and the twins following.

“Good timing Harry-kins.” Fred called as he caught sight of the two students already present in the room. Professor Mcgonagall glared at him briefly.

“Mr. Weasley, I would thank you to leave your less serious mannerisms outside for this meeting. We are after all discussing the safety of the school.” It seemed the head of Gryffindor was just as strict with her houses members as she was in her classes.

“Yes professor, sorry professor.” The twins said in unison, eyes downcast. It seemed even the incorrigible twins bowed to the strength of the grey maned head of the house of lions. “Now professor Flitwick, what is this about?” She said turning to the shorter man.

With a wave of his wand the small professor added several chairs and a large table to his office and invited everyone to sit. “Minerva, my students have just brought a rather incredible story to me. One I suspect your own students have brought to you. They have discovered the location, means of entrance, and nature of the creature inside, the Chamber of Secrets.” He smiled broadly at the older woman.

Mcgonagall’s lips pursed slightly at the use of her given name. Perhaps she preferred to remain formal, however if she did, she failed to hold to it herself. “Filius, these three did share such a tale, yes. Had it been miss Granger alone I would have thought it reliable. With these two involved though,” she waved at the twins, “I am inclined to suspect otherwise. I am unsure as to how they might have roped these three into their foolishness, but to think that the castle pranksters would be the ones to find this.” She broke off before her rant could really get going, Harry noted that she was biting back more.

Hermione looked like she was holding back, clearly she didn’t want to speak against her favorite professor. The twins, normally loud and quick to defend themselves in any situation seemed momentarily cowed by their head of house. Harry struck around in his head for a way to convince her, and lit upon an idea. If this didn’t work. He pulled back out the small egg shaped recorder that contained the rooster crows he had recorded over the holiday.

Ur-uh-ur-uh-ur. Crowed loudly through the room, drawing everyone’s attention. “Professor, we started looking into this after Colin was attacked. We realized that if people had been searching for this Chamber for centuries that it must be hidden in a way that only the heir would be able to get to it. Which led us to ask what the heir would have that others didn’t.”

Hermione jumped in. “Parseltongue, the heir would be a parselmouth. We realized that the Chamber had to be hidden with a parseltongue password.”

The twins found their voices and Fred leaped to add to the discussion. “Which made us realize that the creature had to be some kind of snake,” he began and allowed George to finish.

“Because that’s what parselmouths can control. And the legend says that the heir would be able to control the creature.”

Hermione sent a quick glare at her friends and picked the story back up. “Any way, once we realized all that, we decided that there was a chance that the chamber had been opened before, so we asked the castle ghosts. Luna found out from moaning Myrtle that she was killed by the creature the last time the Chamber was opened and the entrance is in her bathroom.”

When it appeared that she was done talking Harry added in the last bit. “So, over break I recorded a rooster crow,” he held up the small device, “because the books say that will kill a basilisk which is the only snake that fits all the information we have. Now we know where the entrance is we decided it was time to pass our findings on to you so you can get rid of the creature and catch the person whose been attacking people.” Better he thought not to tell them that they had only decided on that course because Hermione had argued them into it.

“Well, I,” Mcgonagall looked around at the twins who for once had serious expressions, Hermione who was glaring at the table, Harry who was placing the small egg shaped thing on the table, Luna who had said nothing simply sat there with her usual where am I expression, and Flitwick who was beaming at the students. “Very well, we will take this to the headmaster and hopefully have this dealt with by the end of the day. Thank you all for bringing this to our attention. I think ten points to each of you and if this does lead to the capture of whoever is responsible I will talk with Albus about special rewards for you. If, however, this turns out to be an elaborate joke, I will have all of you in detention for a month.”

The kids recognized the dismissal in her voice as she scooped up the recorder and began to examine it. They quietly filed out of the room, and did not speak until they were well out of earshot of the professors.

Hermione spoke first. “Well, I’m glad that's dealt with. What should we do now?”

The twins shared a look and Fred spoke, “We have class, we’ll see you later.” They headed off slowly down the hall.

“They seem a bit down, don’t they?” Luna spoke at last. “I’m sure they’ll cheer up after lunch though. Maybe we should do something fun for them.” She trailed off for a moment. “Oh right, I have potions this morning, I should get going. See you two later.” And she began skipping down the hall.

Harry looked over at Hermione for a moment. “You have defense this morning don’t you?” She squeaked and nodded apparently unable to say anything. “Well, I’ll see you at lunch then.” He gave a half hearted smile before turning to head for his brewing lab. He had some study to get in, he was falling a little behind, and he had a plan to keep up with.

The next couple of weeks fell into a quiet pattern. Luna pranked the twins several times which got them smiling again. They eventually admitted that they had felt bad about their head of house assuming that they were so much the troublemaking kind that they wouldn’t take the situation seriously and that they were now determined to adjust their reputation a bit. Hermione and Harry took the opportunity to crack down on their studies.

Then came the Gryffindor, Hufflepuff quidditch match. Harry decided that since the twins and Hermione came out to support him that he would do the same for them. He and Luna headed down with Hermione to take seats in the Gryffindor stands. Unfortunately just as the teams were filing onto the pitch MCgonagall walked onto the field and cast a sonorous.

“This game has been cancelled, please return to your house common rooms. Your heads of house will be there shortly with more information. Thank you.” She left before anyone could approach her.

The Ravenclaw common room was loud for once, with several groups having conversations over each other discussing what had happened to cause the cancellation. Harry and Luna found a spot in a corner where they could wait and see. It took Flitwick almost fifteen minutes to appear.

A loud bang alerted everyone to the presence of their miniature head of house, and a moment later he was standing on a table so everyone could see him. “Hello everyone,” he sounded very solemn, “I am disturbed to inform you that Kevin Entwhistle, and Penelope Clearwater have been found petrified near the library.”

A loud uproar drowned out any chance to pick out individual words for several seconds before a voice could be plainly heard. “You know who it is! Why is Potter still here?” Harry couldn’t tell who it was that had spoken, he wasn’t very good at identifying voices to begin with and this was a yelling voice from across a crowded room. He hunched down a bit anyway, this was the sort of circumstance that could have hexes or even fists headed his way. Luna scooted a little closer and wrapped an arm around his shoulders offering what comfort she could.

“There is absolutely no evidence that Mister Potter is in anyway involved mister Boot. I will thank you to keep such speculation to yourself. Now curfew has been brought forward for tonight and begins now. There will be an investigation ongoing for the rest of the day so I must insist that you all remain in the tower. Aside from that you may use this time however you like.”

The crowd began milling once more and conversations struck back up as he dismounted his table. Harry and Luna stayed put, discussing what it meant that another attack had occurred despite them having given the teachers what they needed to prevent it. Before they got far Flitwick appeared before them.

“Mister Potter, Miss Lovegood, please come with me. I’m afraid some of the teachers wanted a word with you.” They followed him quietly out of the tower.

The staff had gathered in a small room just down from the great hall. Though not all of the staff were present. Professors Dumbledore, Snape, Mcgonagall, and now Flitwick, Mcgonagall had also brought Hermione and the twins.

“Ah good, now we are all here we can begin.” Dumbledore spoke rather gravely.

“Headmaster, I don’t understand . Why are these children here?” Asked Snape in his cold voice.

Mcgonagall responded before Dumbledore. “They are here to receive their due, Severus. I understand that you meant well, however we can’t have students wasting our time with pointless investigations. You need to leave this matter to the teachers. I assure you we are doing everything possible to handle this situation. You will each take a detention next week. Please do not attempt to involve yourselves in this again.”

Harry had to work hard on controlling his temper, as he was getting angrier and angrier the more she said. He noticed that Snape had acquired a very thoughtful look and was surveying the five of them carefully. Dumbledore on the other hand was smiling genially and twinkling at everyone in the room.

“That is all children, you may return to your dorms.” Dumbledore said waving to the door.  
Without a word the five friends left the room and headed towards the stairs.

Hermione was the first to speak. “I guess we shouldn’t have tried to get involved. We aren’t fully trained yet after all.”

“They just punished us for trying to help Hermione.” Said George in a subdued voice. Harry started to worry, he had never heard either of the twins sound so beaten.

Fred looked over and added, “don’t worry Hermione. We won’t try to help anymore. Come on let’s get back to the tower. See you in the morning guys.” With a half-hearted wave and without even looking up, he turned and headed down the hall.

“Go on Hermione, we’ll talk about it in the morning. George take care of them.” Harry waved them on after Fred.

When he turned to leave he noticed that Luna had disappeared. He vaguely recalled her saying something about getting to bed so he left it for tomorrow and headed for his private lab. It was still early enough in the day that he could get some work done before he went to bed.

Harry spent his detention with Flitwick who apologised for Mcgonagall’s harsh complaint and explained that as they had looked into what the friends had told them and found nothing the other professor’s assumed that the twins had convinced the younger students to assist in a prank.  
Flitwick being the easy going person he was, had Harry do homework for his detention. 

When the detention was finished He sat down with the younger wizard. “Harry, the headmaster has decided to invoke several new security measures. These include having students escorted from class to class by a teacher, and to their common rooms after classes are done for the day. Minerva will be informing everyone during classes over the next few days. This will make it difficult for us to continue your training. Even with as close to the tower as my office is, it is not wise to be out in the halls alone at this time. WIth that in mind, we will need to cut back to a session every other week. In the meantime I want you to work extra hard on silent casting. I’ll find opportunities in class to continue testing your occlumency. To test your legilimency try to get a read on what your teachers are going to say in class before they do. If they catch you at it you’ll likely get a stern talking to, however it is not against any rules so you won’t get in any trouble. The exception to that is Severus, but as you don’t attend his classes that shouldn’t be a problem.”

Unable to find his voice Harry nodded his assent.

On his way to a random classroom to set up his tent he decided that he couldn’t sleep as he was too upset by recent events. So he headed for the lost and found room for a couple hours of sorting instead, hopefully it would wear him out enough to manage a few hours of sleep.

It was now extremely difficult for the five friends to spend any time together. Between being in different years and houses they had different schedules and students were no longer allowed to spend a lot of time in the library, or any time wandering on their own. Which meant their only time together was a couple of hours after classes most of which was spent studying.

The school had become very subdued, even the twins were keeping their heads down. On the third such meeting though they revealed what had them being so unusually quiet.

“Harry, we think we have something that will help. But we need to know a couple things for sure. Which means we need to get into your library. And also we need you to check if we were right in the first place. Would you be willing to go find out if the entrance really is in that bathroom?”

Harry caught by surprise just stared at them for a moment. “Umm, sure I can do that. Can you get out of the tower?”

The twins smiled mischievously. “Of course we can Harry.”

“Thought so, okay. Meet me in the private lab tonight after curfew. I’ll know by then if the entrance is where we thought it was, and I’ll have the library with me.”

They nodded and went back to work.

When Harry managed to slip away and get to the bathroom he was surprised to find Luna already there chatting with Myrtle.

“Hey Harry.” The little blonde said as he entered the room.

“You’re a boy.” Myrtle said sulkily. “What are you doing here?”

“Myrtle I told you. Harry is here to identify the entrance to the chamber. We’re going to take care of the creature that killed you.” For once Luna was speaking seriously, rather than her usual dreamy way.

“Hmph.” Myrtle did not seem convinced.

“Luna.” Harry finally spoke up. “What are you doing here?”

“Oh, I heard Gred asking you about the entrance and decided I wanted to be part of the effort. I hope you don’t mind.”

“No, I don’t mind Luna.” Harry tried to smile but found his face did not want to comply. So he turned to the ghost. “Myrtle, do you know where the entrance is?”

“No, but the thing I saw was over there.” She motioned toward the row of sinks.

Moving over to where she had indicated Harry began to thoroughly search the area. A few minutes later he found a small carving of a snake on one of the taps.

“That tap’s never worked.” Myrtle said as he turned it.

“Okay, so if this is the entrance. I need to tell it to open in parseltongue.” Using the carving as a reference he tried to make himself speak in parseltongue. “Open” he said at the sink.

“I don’t think that worked.” Said Luna as Myrtle started giggling. “Maybe you need to forget that you can speak english for a minute.”

Focusing a little harder on the snake he tried to imagine it moving, he had not had any trouble when he had been face to face with a snake so maybe if he could make himself believe that he was looking at a snake it would work. “Open” this time he could feel it working. Instead of english he could hear a strange sibilant hissing sound escape from his mouth.

There was a grinding sound and the sink lowered into the floor revealing a large pipe tall enough for Harry to walk into.

“I think that proves it.” Luna said. “Are we going in now, or waiting for the others?”

“Waiting. I’m meeting the twins after curfew. They said they have an idea.”

Okay, let’s go wait for them.” She grabbed Harry’s hand and dragged him from the room.

A few hours later after explaining all about his private lab and the lost and found room Harry was waddling around as a badger while Luna sat reading one of his family journals. The door opened and in walked two redheads and one bushy headed brunette.

“Luna, what are you doing here, and where’s Harry?” Hermione asked as soon as the door closed. “And what is this room?” She rounded on the twins.

Fred held up his hands. “Calm down Hermione, the room is a little complicated.” He launched into a brief explanation that had her fascinated. “As for Harry.” He turned to where George was lifting a small bedraggled looking animal from the floor. He carried the thing over and placed it on the table. With a closer look she was able to identify it as a badger, though why it’s hair was sticking out at odd angles was a mystery.

“Why is there a badger here, and what have you done to it? You’re not testing potions on it are you?”

“Look at it’s eye’s Hermione.” Said George.

“Why would I, oh.” She caught sight of the animals piercing green eyes and fell silent. “That’s odd. How did, aaah.” Before she could finish her question the badger began to grow and in a moment Harry was sitting on the edge of the table.

“Good evening Hermione. I wasn’t expecting you. Luna overheard Fred and George asking about the Chamber and decided to join. What brought you in?”

“Umm, I caught them as they were leaving the tower and insisted on going with them. You, you were a badger.”

“Yeah, I started the animagus process last year. I think I will have completed it by next christmas. I have enough of the potion ingredients to carry me through the summer. Have you thought about it yet?” Again he tried to smile but found himself incapable.

“Harry that’s, that’s..”

“Hermione Granger, speechless. George, write this moment down. A miracle has occurred.”

“Oh stop that.” Hermione turned and slapped Fred in the back of the head. “Harry that’s amazing. Even most fully grown wizards can’t do it.”

“Actually according to dad’s journal he thinks anyone can do it. Some pureblood just decided to claim that only some people can do it to prevent muggle born from trying. Which then was used as the reasoning for the laws requiring registration. He wrote that he thinks there is a group of purebloods that curse muggle born witches and wizards trying to achieve the transformation in order to maintain the lie.”

Hermione and the twins stood there for a minute looking trout slapped. “That’s terrible.” Said Hermione, “and if it’s true.” She trailed off. “I want to read that journal please.” She had a stern look on her face and Harry felt sure that she would be trying it herself soon.

“Well then, right over there.” He motioned to where the trunk stood open in the corner. Luna’s already looking through some of them. Knock yourself out.”

It was after midnight before anyone spoke again, they had gotten lost in reading.

“Got it!” Cried George. “Fred here, have a look.” He leaned over and the two of them perused the book he held.

Harry and Hermione had jumped and dropped the books they were holding when George yelled. Luna merely looked up curiously. After a moment Hermione ran out of patience.

“Well? What did you find?”

George handed the book to Fred revealing the cover in the process. It was Moste Potente Potions. “A potion that makes you able to see without seeing. It shuts down your eyes and instead makes you see like a bat in the dark. You just see shapes. With that we could look a basilisk in the face without worrying about it’s eyes killing us.”

That got Hermione’s attention. “Really, is it difficult. Can we make it?”

Fred responded. “Not too bad, the real trick is going to be getting all the ingredients. We’ll either have to order them or steal them from Snape. The worst part is that it will take a month to make it. At least it lasts for several hours in case we need to wait after we take it. Here have a look.” He motioned her over to join him at the table.

“While their working on that, would you mind if I borrowed one of the cauldrons Harry?” Luna peered at him over the book she had been reading. He noted that it was the same journal she had been reading earlier.

“Sure Luna, just hang the sign over it so we know which one you’re using.”

Smiling she went over to the line of cauldrons hung a sign over one and set to work.

George sat down next to Harry and turned to him with a severe expression. “Harry there’s one more thing we need, which we haven’t found in your library.” Harry opened his mouth to respond but George held up a hand. “It’s okay Harry we didn’t expect you to have everything. I mention it because you are the only one not currently working on anything directly. We need to find another way to deal with a basilisk. The books in the main library are no help. I would think there might be something with more information in the restricted section, but we aren’t taking care of magical creatures so I couldn’t even guess at which book we might need. If I loan you the map could you run down to Hagrid’s and check with him? He might know where to look.”

Harry thought for a moment, while he wasn’t at all concerned with the possibility of being caught, between the map and the cloak he could avoid any chance of that. He wasn’t entirely sure that Hagrid would be either willing or able to help. Still, he couldn’t think of any other options so he agreed.

George handed over the map and explained what Harry was going to do. Hermione looked like she was going to argue, or maybe ask to go with him. So Harry whipped out the cloak and wrapped it around himself. “I’m okay Hermione. No need to worry. I won’t get caught. Except by Hagrid, and if he turns me in, better that it be just me than both of us.” Everyone cooed for a minute over the cloak before he finally left to visit Hagrid.

The trip down to Hagrid’s was as easy as he had thought and he was shortly knocking on the door.

Hagrid pulled the door open slowly and poked his head out looking confused. “It’s me Hagrid, let me in and I’ll take off the cloak. I need to ask you about something important.”

Opening the door wide for Harry to enter Hagrid leaned his crossbow back against the wall where it normally sat next to the door. “Harry, you shouldn’t ought to be here. ‘Specially at this late hour. It’s not safe.”

“I know Hagrid, I know. But I really needed to ask you about something. We need to know more about basilisk’s than what we can find in the main library. Do you know what book we should look in?”

“Basilisk’s? Them’s pretty dangerous Harry, are you sure you want to be reading about them?”

“Yeah, it’s important Hagrid. Do you know where to look?”

“Well, I recall there being something about them in one of the books I was allowed to read for the ground keeping job. Hold on, what was it?” He got a look of immense concentration on his face as he thought back. “Oh yeah, it was Beasts Most Foul. It’s back in the restricted section though, not sure how you’d get your hands on it.”

“We’ll figure something out, thanks Hag.”

Before Harry could finish his sentence Hagrid had risen from his seat and was reaching for his crossbow again. “Get under the cloak Harry. Someone’s coming.”

Harry scrambled to get back under the cloak and moved into a far corner to stay out of the way.  
A few moments later there was another knock at the door.

Professor Dumbledore was allowed in followed by a short heavy set man Harry did not recognize. This man was wearing a pinstripe suit and a lime green bowler hat. He introduced himself as Cornelius Fudge, minister of magic.

“Good evening Hagrid.” Dumbledore said as he entered.

“Good evening professor Dumbledore sir. What brings you down here at this hour?”

“That would be me Hagrid.” Said Fudge. “You see things have simply gone too far. The ministry has to be seen to be doing something. I’ve already gotten complaints from twelve families. Bad business Hagrid.”

“What’s all that got to do with me sir?”

“Once again minister I can assure you that taking Hagrid will accomplish nothing.” Dumbledore’s voice was rich and soft. He seemed to fill the hut with grandfatherly appeal as he spoke.

“Now see here Dumbledore, Hagrid’s record’s against him. If it turns out that someone else is responsible then he’ll be returned and no more said. But I have to take him, I just have to.”

“Take me where?”

“For a short time only.”

“Not to Azkaban prison.”

But before anyone could respond the door opened again and in walked a tall, pale, thin man with long platinum blonde hair. He bore a strong resemblance to Draco Malfoy.

“Ah, there you are Dumbledore.”

“Lucious, what are you doing here?” Asked Fudge.

“Ah minister, yes that will make things much easier. I asked at the school for the headmaster and was informed that he was here. The board of governors has met Dumbledore, we have agreed that things are becoming most dubious. Four attacks on muggle borns already, tut tut. If this keeps up there won’t be any muggle borns left, and we all know what a tragedy that would be. No we have decided that the time has come for you to leave Dumbledore, here is the official order of suspension, you will find all twelve signatures in place.” The tall blonde handed over an official looking letter bearing the hogwarts seal.

“Now Lucious, Dumbledore gone. No, no, last thing we want just now.” The minister squeaked into the momentary silence.

“Cornelius, this is a matter for the governors. I’m sure the replacement will be able to handle things well enough.”

“If the governors wish my removal Lucious then they shall have it. However you will find that I shall only be truly gone from this school when none here are loyal to me. Also, help shall always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it.” Dumbledore spoke, and as he did so Harry was sure his eyes flicked towards where he stood in the corner.

“Ya can’t get rid of Dumbledore, without him the muggle borns won’t stand a chance. There’ll be killin’s next.”

“My dear man,” Malfoy spoke haughtily, “I would advise you to keep a reign on that temper. I expect the Azkaban guards would not react well to it.” The tall man turned and with his nose in the air strode out of the hut before anyone could say anything else.

“Yes well, we should get going anyway. Come along Hagrid.” The minister seemed to be trying to maintain his dignity, and failing miserably.

“Well, if anyone wanted to find out some stuff, all they’d have to do would be to follow the spiders. That’s all I’m saying.” Hagrid grunted out before turning to leave. Fudge looked rather confused. “Oh and someone’ll need to feed fang for me while I’m away.”

Harry was never sure how he made it back to the lab without running into anyone. He moved in a sort of daze trying to sort through what had happened.

“It belongs to the school!” Hermione was almost screaming when Harry opened the door. He winced and quickly shut the door behind him, hoping no one had heard that.

“Hey Harry, welcome back.” George said cheerily.

“Yes, great to see you again Harry.” Added Fred, clearly hoping to head off Hermione’s rant.

Hermione did not look pleased. “Don’t you try to get out of this just because Harry’s here. Those things belong to the school, what makes you think you have a right to them?”

Harry moved over to Luna. “What are they arguing about?” He said quietly.

Luna blinked up at him owlishly. “Hermione went through the door over there and found the room of forgotten things. Fred and George told her that they had been sorting through it for treasure.”

Harry winced again. “Ooh, poor choice of words there. I wonder…”

“Harry Potter!” Hermione had turned her heated glare upon Harry and he found he didn’t like it much more than the twins.

“Hermione, what’s up?” He tried to keep the fear out of his voice.

“What is this Fred and George tell me about you stealing?” Behind her the twins were making apologetic gestures.

“Umm, I don’t know. What exactly did they say?” He tried to signal to the twins that he understood, but couldn’t tell if they had gotten the message.

“They said that you showed them this room full of stuff the school has stored. Which they’ve been stealing from, and that you had already stolen from it.”

“Stored? Hermione it’s junk. It’s the rubbish room. How did you get the idea that it was storage? Did it get the wrong room maybe?” Scowling Harry walked over to the door and went through. After a moment he stuck his head back in and called, “Hermione, come here.”

It took longer than he expected for her to join him, but she eventually came through the door, still looking murderous. “Well.” She said shaking a little with fury.

Harry pointed to a broken sofa lying in the nearest pile. “What do you see there Hermione?” He was working hard to keep his voice level. While he understood where her complaint was coming from, she was incorrect in her assumptions. And before he blew up at her he needed to make her understand that this room was full of unwanted rubbish, not stored items.

“What am I supposed to see?” Clearly she wasn’t going to make it easy. 

Stubborn witch he thought. “You’re supposed to see what’s there. Just look and tell me what you see.”

With a jerky twist of her head she turned to look at the sofa. “It’s a sofa.”

“And what can you tell me about this particular sofa?”

“Oh are you gonna say you can’t see it?”

“I can see it just fine, I’m just curious if we are seeing the same thing.”

“Fine.” She spat at him. “It’s a three seater sofa, in a faded red color. Most likely it’s meant to be a Gryffindor sofa. Hmm, seems to be an older style, I don’t recognize it.” Her head slowly tilted to the side as she attempted to identify something else about the sofa, then her eyes went wide. “It, it has a broken leg, no two broken legs. One of the cushions is torn, the stuffing is leaking out.” She trailed off and began looking around the room at other things lying in nearby piles. Torn curtains, broken chairs and desks, rusted suits of armor, an old bird cage with what looked like a seven legged spider long dead inside. “This, this room, this room is full of junk.” She said as she turned back to Harry.

“Yep, it’s the schools rubbish dump. I found it in an old history book. Apparently every magical building more than three hundred years old had one. A room, magically expanded and then hidden to which anything vanished in the house would be sent. This room is where anything in the school that anyone chooses to be rid of ends up. Mostly the elves collect rubbish and bring it here, though anything vanished would go here too.”

“But, but, Fred said there was treasure in here.” She stared searchingly at him.

“One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. I found an old rusted axe that I cleaned up and now have in my camping gear. I won’t need to use it for a while yet, but it means I won’t have to transfigure one every time I need it, or go out and buy one.”

“But, but, oh. You’re right, that was stupid of me to get upset about wasn’t it? I should have just looked closer to begin with. I’m sorry Harry.”

He reached out and pulled her into a short hug. “It’s okay Hermione, I understand why you were upset. Though yes, I agree it would have been better to look a little closer to begin with.”

“Prat.” She whispered as she slapped his arm. Wiping a few tears from her face she continued. “Okay, let's go back in. I owe the twins an apology as well.”


	26. Chapter 26

The next few weeks were easily the worst Harry had dealt with since before he started running from the Dursleys. Almost the entire school seemed convinced that he was the heir. Even a few of the teachers seemed to be uncertain on the question. Lockhart though was often overheard to say that he had known all along that it was Hagrid and that the monster had gone into hiding in order to avoid him.

The best thing that could be said about the time was that Hermione was easily able to get Lockhart to sign a permission slip to allow them to check out the book Hagrid had recommended.

Unfortunately the book only had one more piece of information on basilisks than what they had already found. That being that basilisk hide is almost impenetrable, according to the author only goblin made steel would be strong enough to penetrate a basilisks scales.

Two weeks after Hagrids arrest the twins announced that the wall walking potion was ready for a full test. They had a plan for dealing with the basilisk. “It’s simple,” they said together. “We use this,” Fred held up the wall walking potion, “and stay up high, out of the way. Then we use the sonar potion so we can look at it without dying. Once it’s below us we jump on it’s back and use those knives you found, and any others we can find before then to cut it to ribbons.”

Hermione thought it sounded rather dangerous, but Harry agreed that without the recorded rooster crow it was the best they were likely to get. Luna however pointed out the main flaw.  
“Hermione and I are a bit small for that plan. I think it would be better if we distract it by making noise somewhere away from you, that should make it harder for the basilisk to notice you before you jump on it.” Hermione was initially a bit irked at being called small but agreed that she would probably be better at distracting than trying to stab through thick scales.

Luna had been very busy during this time. She rushed up to the lab between every class and could always be found there after classes had finished for the day. However she was completely unwilling to explain what she was up to. The first time Harry had asked she pressed a book into his hands and told him that the hinklepuffs had told her that Harry needed to read it. It was one of his family journals.

It turned out to be a good read though, this was one of the apprentice journals. That of Wodred Potter who had trained in focus crafting, which apparently was the precursor to wand crafting. While wand crafting is fairly straightforward, as it refers only to the making of wands. Focus crafting refers to the making of any tool used to focus and amplify magic in order to make the casting of spells easier. Wodred went on and on about rods, staffs, and rings. He even mentioned some unusual focus orders that his instructor made. Including candles, and clothing.  
In the first ten pages Harry came across a story that at first made him drop the journal in terror, and then pick it back up and read voraciously looking for a solution.

The story was of a pair of brothers. Menoe, and Gregor, of the family Linoir. They were among the first wand crafters. Prior to that time, staves had been the most common focus. However not everyone wanted to carry a large staff, and when combined with the time it takes to create a staff many magicals wanted a different option. Thus the wand was invented, much simpler to craft, supremely easier to carry and use, despite being a weaker focus wands quickly became the choice of most magicals.

Menoe and Gregor were orphaned and grew up in the company of their villages focus crafter. Like many others they preferred wands and so didn’t bother to learn the crafting of any other. Having lost their parents to a war against the dark lord of the day, Menoe and Gregor trained in the art of dueling. By the day of their mastery they had become known far and wide as two of the greatests magical fighters of their day. While they had received recognition as master wand crafters they found that they preferred the life of wandering do-gooders. For several years they travelled up and down the land helping out wherever they could and living off the kindness of others where there was no work.

One day they came upon a village that was being attacked almost daily by a dragon, this was still fairly common in that time as the dragon population was still high and the dragons would attack any living thing within their hunting sphere, as they had not learned to fear mankind as other beasts do. After a mighty battle the brothers slew the dragon. However they had damaged their wands in the fight and decided to craft new ones from the heart string. They declared that their wands were now as much brothers as they were.

Some years later a new war began. Menoe and Gregor had finally tired of wandering and settled down in neighboring villages. While they wanted to remain close they knew there would not be enough demand for their wands in one village for both of them to work, and so they lived apart. Each joined the war for their own reasons and by chance they joined opposing sides. Soon they were forced to fight on the same field and learned of each others place in the opposing force. At first they refused to fight each other, but as the battle raged on through the day, emotions ran high. As the light of day sank they found themselves face to face, but so covered in blood and grime that they could not recognize each other. They began to duel but found that they could not. The wands refused to attack their brother. When it became clear to Menoe and Gregor that their wands each refused to attack the other they looked closer and finally recognized one another.

The journal halted there with mention that there was more to the tale, but that Wodred was only interested in the important part. Brother wands will not work properly if used in a duel. Brother wands are any two wands whose core element comes from the same source. Thus it is advisable to always carry a back up focus, especially if you happen to know an enemy carries a brother wand.

Knowing this Harry searched the journal hoping there would be something about how to overcome that connection, or at least information on how to create a second focus. In his search of the laws he had learned that it is illegal to purchase a second wand, unless your first is damaged. So he couldn’t return to Ollivander unless he was willing to render his current wand useless. Which he was not.

It took two days to read through the whole journal. There was nothing in it about overcoming the connection his wand had with that of Voldemort’s. However Wodred had included specific instructions on the method for creating each type of focus he had trained in. Wands were pretty simple really, they required only placing a bit of a magically powerful plant or animal within a stick of magically powerful wood. There were of course several steps involved but overall, simple.

Rods were slightly more tricky. They had been invented after wands. Slightly longer and thicker than a wand, a rod was comprised of the same kind of wood. The core was the real difference. Made of at least three different materials which had to be fused together then placed into the rod. The fusing process was difficult and if done poorly could result in highly dangerous explosions. Wodred stated that rods were his least favorite focus to create as they required much more attention to detail than any other focus. Although he couldn’t argue that they were much stronger than a simple wand, and almost as easy to carry and conceal.

Rings were the trickiest to create, and the least volatile to get wrong. One merely has to produce a potion which took only an hour to brew, but required some rare ingredients. This potion would form the base for the ring. Next you add a bit of your own blood to the mix, this gives the ring a connection to its wearer, incidentally making it useless as a focus for anyone else. Finally, while that is settling, a second potion is brewed, this one requiring a hair from the wearer of the ring. The second potion is placed in water to cool rapidly. Once it is cooled, the first potion is poured onto it. A hard, brittle rock will form from the combination, which after a few moments is broken. The ring will be found inside. Rings were the weakest focus, but also the easiest to use and carry.

Finally there were staves. The longest, most difficult focus to produce, but also the most powerful. You had to find a tree that sings to your magic, acquire the heartwood of said tree, craft that into the shape of the staff. Acquire a magically active stone how and where is irrelevant, so long as the stone has some magical property to it. The stone then must be crushed and used as the base of a potion, to which your own blood is added. The potion then is used as the core of the staff, magically placed. The potion takes a month to produce.

After copying some notes on the various methods and thoughts on where he could get some of the ingredients he would need he decided to set the problem to the side until the basilisk was taken care of.

The last two weeks of waiting for the sonar potion to finish Harry and the twins barely spent any time on their homework. Instead they spent their free time in the lost and found room, searching for more goblin made weapons. They found four amulets, two bracelets, three more knives and one sword. After some discussion it was agreed that the twins would take a pair of knives each, while Harry would use the sword. Harry decided he would also carry a spare knife as well.

At last the day came. Everything was ready. The twins handed out the boot wraps that had been coated in the wall walking potion, and the vials of sonar potion. After some experimentation with the first batch they had determined that it was easier to coat a bit of leather in the potion then wrap that around their boots, rather than soaking their boots directly. They unfortunately did not have time to test the sonar potion, they would just have to hope that Hermione and the twins had brewed it properly.

So it was that the five made their way cautiously to the entrance of the chamber. It had been getting easier to move around the castle, as there hadn’t been any new attacks. However the teachers were patrolling more frequently, and students had been advised to avoid wandering the halls. All of which made getting from place to place a little nerve racking. Fortunately, with the help of the map they were able to make it to Myrtle’s bathroom while avoiding any well meaning adults.

Once inside they applied the wall walking footwraps and drank down the sonar potions. Once they were sure they were ready Harry turned to the sink that hid the entrance. Internally he patted himself on the back again. Previously, he had to imagine the small picture of a snake moving in order to activate his parseltongue. However the books he had acquired before returning to Hogwarts explained that with practice he would be able to switch between languages with ease. He still couldn’t do it easily, however he had managed to train himself to speak in parseltongue when he wanted it just took a moment of concentration. “Open.” He hissed at the sink.

With a grinding of stone on stone, the sink sank. A large pipe waited behind where the sink had been, looking ominous and slimy.

“Alright, last chance to back out of this insane plan.” Harry looked around at the slightly vague grey outlines of his friends.”

One of the twins reached out and laid a hand on his shoulder. With his vision being all grey shapes it was even harder to tell them apart, in fact he wasn’t sure he would be able to tell Hermione and Luna apart if it weren’t for the difference in their size. “Nice try Harry-kins.” The twin said, “who's going first?”

“I will, space out a bit. We don’t want to crash into each other down there.” Harry replied.

“Alright then, good luck.” Twin one stepped back.

Swallowing a sudden lump in his throat Harry strode forward and stepped into the pipe.

The trip down the pipes was simultaneously fun, frightening, and disgusting. The pipe twisted and turned with occasional offshoots appearing to the sides. If it hadn’t been so slimy, and leading to such a dangerous place it would have been enjoyable, like the water slides he had seen on the tele at the big water parks. Somewhere inside he made a note to himself to look into visiting one of those over the summer.

At the bottom he shot out into a small pool of slime that wasn’t quite water. Recalling that the others would be following he stood up and moved out of the way. A moment later, one of the twins shot out of the end of the pipe. “Ugh, this is nasty.” He said, wiping muck off his robes.

“You should,” He didn’t have time to finish before the second twin shot out, right into his brothers legs. The two of them went down into the muck. With a quick wave of his wand the twins rose into the air just in time. Hermione slid under them. Harry rushed over and pulled her out of the way as Luna made her appearance.

“Ugh, why did we agree to do this again?” Hermione asked as she tried to peel her robes away from herself. Wands appeared in everyone’s hands. “Cleaning charms I think are in order here.”

“Agreed.” One of the twins stated. “Turgio.” He said pointing his wand at his robes.

It was odd watching all the muck and slime siphon off when he could only see vague shapes and one colour. It looked like a cone of stuff pulling away from each of them. A few quick drying charms, which he couldn’t see as they had no physical effect, and they were ready to move on.

As they moved down the large cave they began noticing the floor crunching beneath their feet. Kneeling down to inspect it one of the twins pointed out that the floor was littered with small animal bones. This caused the girls to move up onto the wall. “You can walk on those if want.” They said together.

A little further down a shape was lying to one side of the cave. As they got closer they saw that it was a rather large snake. They all stopped moving. Harry could hear the girls moving back.

“Well, so much for plan A.” Whispered one of the twins. “It isn’t moving.”

“Maybe it’s asleep.” Answered the second twin.

“Let’s move up as quietly as we can, and get it before it wakes up then.” Harry offered.

The twins were quiet for a moment, Harry had a sudden vision of them looking at each other in their usual way. “Agreed.” They said together.

Drawing the sword Harry crept forward. It didn’t take long to reach the side of the thing, and a moment later three blades plunged into the side of the snake. “Aaaaagh.” Three voices cried out in unison as they stabbed and cut and sliced. When the thing remained still they stepped back.

“Is that it?” Said one of the twins.

“Is it dead?” Asked the other.

“I guess. That was a lot easier than I thought it would be.” Harry agreed.

The girls came up cautiously. Luna reached out to touch the snake while Hermione started talking.

“Well that wasn’t nearly as bad as I expected. I suppose it is actually dead?”

“Yes, though not because of us.” Luna said quietly. “This one has been dead for a while, it’s just an old skin.”

This brought all of them forward to inspect the thing for themselves. A moment later they all agreed that it was in fact just a shed skin.

“Well damn, and here I thought we were done already.”

“Me too, brother mine. Guess we need to continue on.”

“Yep, of course it can’t be easy.” Harry agreed. “Alright, it’s not going to do itself. Let’s go.”  
Quick nods of agreement got everyone moving again.

“Hey guys.” Harry said a few moments later. “Are your hearts trying to pound out of your chests like mine?”

“Blimey, I thought it was just me.” One of the twins replied, letting out a huff.

“Yeah me too, glad I’m not the only one.” Added the other twin, clutching at his chest.

“Of course, it’s a tense situation, we should really all be extremely frightened. I’m trying to ignore it.” Hermione’s voice added from behind them.

“I find that focusing on the possibility of finding a rare magical creature helps to calm my pounding jitterbugs.” Wafted in Luna’s dreamy tone.

“Wish we had a way to stab at the basilisk without having to get so close. I kept expecting to get bitten while we were going at the last one.” One of the twins pondered.

Harry stopped. A moment later so did the others as they heard a hand impact with a skull. Turning they looked at the messy haired boy. “We can, duh. How stupid are we.”

“Umm, Harry, while we would never argue about your stupidity, we are curious, what you’re talking about.”

“Screw you Fred. Mobila. The spell that makes things move on their own. We can stand on the ceiling and direct the sword and knives. We can attack the basilisk without ever having to get close to it.”

A moment a profound silence followed this clearly monumental statement. Then a flurry of voices filled the space.

“Harry, that’s ingenious.”

“Brilliant, my friend you know.”

“Oh Harry, that would work for us too.”

“Wow Harry, that should scare off a few wrackspurts.”

“Right, we should practice a bit just to be sure we can do it.” One of the twins said as the noise petered out. Once more they all pulled out their wands. A few minutes of practice and they were sure they could manage. “Right, we’re good then. Moving on.”

Moving on, they found a door carved with snake motifs all around. “Looks like you’re up again Harry.”

“Open.” Harry hissed, hoping that this would work again. Before he had finished speaking the snakes carved into the door had begun moving. Slithering around the edge of the door until at last it swung open.

Beyond the door was a vast chamber, several large pillars in rows led down the center. At the far wall stood an immense statue of a slightly monkey faced man with a long beard in flowing old fashioned robes. At the statues feet was a large pool of slightly greenish water. Looking up, they could see that the ceiling was almost a hundred feet above them.

“That’s really high.” Hermione whispered. She had a thing about heights.

“It’s okay Hermione, we’ll be safe and I’ll stay close.” Luna said moving closer and wrapping an arm around the older girl.

“So, where’s the snake?” Asked the twins.

“Don’t know. Maybe we should look around?” Harry answered.

“Stay safe, yell if you find anything.” One of the twins said.

“Don’t leave this room.” Hermione added.

Almost an hour later they had explored every bit of the chamber they could find. Harry had hissed “open” at every snake carving they could find, as well as several variations, including “open in the name of Slytherin” and “Slytherin's heir commands you to open” but they found neither basilisk nor any sign of who the actual heir might be.

“Okay, so what do we do now?” Asked Hermione as they gathered once more at the base of the statue.

“Well, there aren’t really a lot of options. We can sit and wait, and hope the heir shows up. Or we can leave and come back another time.” One of the twins said.

“How much of the sonar potion de we have left?” Asked Harry.

“Umm three doses.” Said the second twin. “We didn’t think that we might need more so we just made a standard batch.”

“Guess we should have made more twin of mine.”

“It’s my fault.” Hermione said dryly. “I thought we would only need to make the one trip. I should have considered that we might have to come back again.”

One of the twins reached out and wrapped an arm around Hermione’s shoulders. “Calm down Herms. We didn’t think of it either. It’s everyone’s fault. Harry or Luna could have mentioned the idea too you know.”

“Thanks for that George.” Harry said. “I always wanted to be at fault for not having enough potion.”

“You’re welcome Harry-kins.” Said the twin not comforting Hermione.

Luna cocked her head to one side. “Or we could ask whoever’s coming through the door.” She said pointing towards the entrance.

Now they were all quiet they could hear the grinding of the door as it opened. Staring at each other in terror they all started at once.

“What do we do?” Fred, George, and Hermione said together.

“We should probably hide.” Said Luna.

“Everyone up.” Harry said pointing to the nearest column.

“Eeep.” Came a high pitched squeak from Hermione. But everyone was up and moving. They swarmed up the column as quickly as they could and hunkered down at the top.

“Harry,” one of the twins whispered, “voice throwing charm. You could talk to him without giving away your position. George and I are going to move over to the next pillar.” He pointed to another nearby column.

The twins moved off a moment later. The girls followed though they moved to a different pillar. Pointing his wand to his throat Harry blessed the months of practice at silent casting. While he still had some difficulty managing it quick enough for a duel as long as he had time to concentrate he could manage with relative ease. Now he just had to wait.

Footsteps echoed through the chamber as a hooded figure strode between the columns. From his position on the ceiling Harry couldn’t identify the figure but he figured he could take care of that later. The figure strode right up to the pool at the base of the statue. For a moment it looked like the person would kneel, perhaps to pray. But a soft hissing voice emanated from the figure instead. “Speak to me Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts four.” It said.

There was another grinding of stone on stone as the mouth of the statue opened. A rush of air signaled something large coming up the tunnel hidden behind the statue. Within a couple of heartbeats an enormous snake erupted out of the tunnel. It’s massive head was taller than the twins, possibly even if Harry were sat on their shoulders. It slithered out of the opening and into the pool, up onto the floor. Coil after coil after coil, every few feet he thought sure the tail would come, yet still it just kept flowing out of the mouth. When at last the whole of the basilisk had exited the tunnel Harry had counted sixty feet. How could that thing have survived for so long he wondered.

“Come pet, we have business to take care of.” The figure hissed, and began to stride away.  
This is it Harry thought, I need to keep them here. Get as much information as I can, and make sure that thing doesn’t leave this room again. Focusing on the charm that made his voice emanate from wherever he wanted he threw it to just behind the figure. “Hello there. Who might you be?” In a spot of inspiration he remembered a show he had seen once years ago in which a rather creepy man had introduced monster movies. He tried to emulate that creepy voice, thinking that it might be good to both throw the figure off from identifying him, and maybe scare the little bastard a bit as well.

It even seemed to work, the figure whirled around drawing it’s wand. It looked around appearing somewhat frantic. “Who’s there, where are you? Come out where I can see you.”

“But I already am where you can see me. Assuming you look in the right direction.” Harry had to hold in a giggle at how the figure whirled again when he moved his voice behind it again. “But then perhaps you haven’t the correct sight. Whatever are you planning to do with that snake I wonder?” Not having any real experience with this kind of interrogation Harry was hoping that by keeping the heir from getting comfortable he might be able to trick some information out of them.

“I am going to rid this school of the filth that has been allowed to tarnish it. You can’t fool me, Potter. Where are you hiding?”

Oh well, worth a try. Harry thought. “Obviously I’m hiding, but who are you? Take off the cloak, let’s chat.” If being all creepy and mysterious didn’t work, he would try the direct approach.

“You don’t know. Oh how wonderful, show yourself Potter and I will be happy to reveal my identity.” The voice of the heir had taken on a soft, slightly oily quality.

As Harry opened his mouth to reply he saw something that made his heart stop for a moment in utter confusion. Down on the floor stepping out from behind one of the pillars was himself. A perfect replica from his messy hair all the way down to his wet and dirty boots. It took him a moment to figure out what was going on, and he nearly slapped himself when he did. The twins, must have created an illusion to help him out. Nodding to himself he went with it, and moved his voice to the illusion. “Alright, here I am.”

The heirs head cocked to one side. “That was rather less of a fight than I expected Potter. Thank you. Well then, as promised. My name is Tom Marvolo Riddle.” The still hooded heir bowed slightly. “It is a pleasure to meet you. I have so been hoping to have this chance you know.”

“Oh, and why is that?”

“I’ve heard so much about you. How you defeated the dark lord, how you have befriended muggle-borns and blood traitors. And most intriguing how you are a parselmouth. I’ve been wanting so much to see you, to speak with you. There are so many questions I have wanted to ask.”

“Well I have a few questions for you. Like why you would want to attack people.”

“Oh Harry, such a simple foolish question. Those I choose to attack are unworthy. They are the low, the unimportant. Now it’s your turn. How did a baby defeat the greatest sorcerer of all time?”

“What? Why would you care about that?”

“Why would I not? Oh, of course, you don’t know. Well allow me to enlighten you Harry Potter.” The Figure drew its wand and began to write in the air in flaming letters. Tom Marvolo Riddle, with a wave of the wand the letters began to dance and spin around each other until they reformed into new words. I am Lord Voldemort. “It was a name I was using even when I was a student here, among my closest friends and allies. Now Potter, how did you defeat my older self?”

It took Harry a moment to recover from the shock of that revelation, when he had himself under control again he responded. “No one knows how. All anyone knows is that both my parents died trying to save me, or at least prevent you from reaching me.”

“Ah, yes, that’s a powerful counter curse. I wondered, you see, there are strange likenesses between us. Both orphans, both raised by muggles, probably the only two parselmouths to attend Hogwarts since Slytherin himself. We even look something alike. But indeed there is nothing special about you after all. Well, thank you for sharing. As that is all I needed, I believe it is time for you to die.”

Harry had been quietly holding back panic since the mention of similarities. However with the statement of intended murder his panic dissolved and his plan returned to focus. “Oh is it? Well I suppose if we must.”

“We,” and Harry was almost frightened to hear a smile in the word, “oh dear you are amusing.” Tom laughed out. Turning to the basilisk he hissed, “kill him.”

And with those words several things happened at once. From near the statue four knives flew towards the basilisk. Out of the shadows near the wall of the chamber two fist size chunks of stone rocketed towards Tom. Tom stepped towards the column nearest himself. The basilisk struck at the illusion of Harry. And Harry dropped his sword, point down in the direction of the snake.

Tom made it three steps and then both stones struck him hard. The first caught him in the shoulder spinning him around. The second sank into his gut doubling him over.

The snake sank it’s three foot long fangs into thin air causing it to over judge its strike and plant its face into the floor. In the process one of the fangs snapped at the tip leaving a four inch long spike rolling up against the pillar.

Unfortunately for the great snake this left it open to the five blades coming in from behind. Each of the twins directed their two knives around the side of its head. The first two pierced what passed for the snakes ears, the second two moved further forward to slip into its open spitting mouth. These two jetted upward into the roof of the mouth, apparently seeking its brain. Though whether this plan worked Harry couldn’t tell from his vantage. No, Harry was concentrating on his own sword which was currently plummeting towards the head of the snake. Unfortunately it was going to land in the wrong place, because of the angle it was falling at the blade was going to glance off the scales, he needed to get it on track to land point first right behind the crown, but to do that he had to get his wand out and cast the mobila spell. Unfortunately his fingers were refusing to cooperate. They felt like thick sausages at the end of his hands.

After what felt like hours but was probably only a heartbeat, he managed to fumble the wand out of his pocket. For one heart wrenching second he lost it, he watched as it rolled in the air falling away from him. His arm felt as though it were made of lead as he reached out in terror to catch the wand before it fell too far. With a sigh of relief, his fingers wrapped around the small bit of wood and he pulled it to his chest. Panting with the moment of fear he jabbed the wand at the falling sword thinking as hard as he could, mobila sword. A heartbeat later the sword jerked to one side signalling that the spell had taken hold.

With a downward jerk of the wand Harry sent the sword flashing down to the point he had identified as what he hoped was the weak point of the scales at the crown of the head. With a loud thunk the blade sank to the hilt just behind the head. The basilisk rose up as high as it could, hissing and spitting, to Harry’s parseltongue it sounded like a creature crying in pain. No words, just a snakes scream of anguish. Unfortunately it was still up, and didn’t seem like it was going to fall. Clearly the wound was not quite as fatal as Harry had hoped.

Gripping the hilt of the sword with his magic Harry ripped the blade free and prepared for another strike. Two smaller blades joined the larger one and seemed to nod at it as they darted forward into the nostrils of the beast. Then just as Harry was sending the sword in for a strike at the eyes the basilisk fell forward with a heavy thud and lay motionless.

“Nooo.” Cried the voice of Tom as he looked at his fallen servant. “How, I’ll kill you for that Potter.” A wand appeared in the hand of the wannabe king. Hissing and spitting to match the great snake the dark wizard span throwing curse after curse in all directions. All that is except the one that would help him. Far above him five faces watched as he span and span throwing spell after spell at every corner of the room. After a few seconds Harry pointed his wand at the whirling figure on the ground and thought, stupify. A jet of red light shot down and struck the figure on the top of its head. The chamber at last fell silent.

Some time later they were back on the ground. The twins had transfigured several large barrels from bits of crumbled masonry and were busy gathering as much of the snakes blood into them as they could. On Hermione’s recommendation they had also removed its eyes and wrapped them in transfigured cloth then placed them in transfigured boxes. While none of them were sure of whether the eyes could still kill them once the beast was dead they didn’t want to take any chances. Their timing proved to be fortuitous, a little over a minute after the second box had been closed the sonar potion wore off. 

“Oh wow, that’s different.” Proclaimed Harry.

“Yeah, I didn’t expect it to switch back to normal vision so quickly. Ooh but look, now we can tell what colour the stones are. I wonder if Slytherin intended for parts of the statue to be green or if that’s due to time.” Hermione added.

“Oh, he’s waking up.” Luna stated, pointing at where they had tied the person claiming to be Tom Riddle to a transfigured chair.


	27. Chapter 27

The figure was indeed stirring Harry noted as he approached. The long, thin, pale face rose, eyes darting around to take in their owners position. The air in the room was still, no breeze could be felt, even the flames of the torches lining the wall licked almost directly upward. So why did the long platinum blonde hair seem to tremble as Draco Malfoy laid eyes on Harry.

“Potter, what, what are you doing. Let me go.” Malfoys voice came out in a tremble, a wild haunted look in his eyes only furthered the effect.

“Malfoy, a minute or so ago you were claiming to be Voldemort. I’m sure he would be well pleased to hear about that. Tell us how you found the chamber, and we’ll consider letting you go.”

“I’ll not tell you anything Potter. You’d better let me go. When my father hears of this.”

“Silencio.” Harry turned to the twins once he was sure that Malfoy had been silenced. “Fred, George.” The twins popped their heads up from where they were working. “Plan A flopped, just like you said. Time for plan B.”

“You got it Harry-kins. We’ll need you and Hermione to take over here though.”

It took less than a minute for the four to trade places. Harry and Hermione now swathed in protective coverings directing a flow of blood into several large barrels. The twins meanwhile cleaned themselves up and turned to leave the chamber.

Thirty five minutes later two red faced and puffing redheads ran back into the chamber before bending over hands on knees taking great sucking breaths.

“You okay guys?” Asked Harry looking up from the barrel he was sealing.

“Just missed,” Fred wheezed out.

“Getting caught,” George added in a high pitched squeak.

“By Snape.” Fred finished with a great gulp of air.

George reached into a pocket and held out a small vial. “Got it though.”

“Excellent!” Harry exclaimed hurrying over to take the small vial.

“Three drops.” Fred said seriously, as Harry took the vial. “Any more could kill him.”

“Right.” Harry nodded at the serious tone.

With a quiet nod the twins traded places again, returning to their work with the basilisk.

Harry turned back to Malfoy. Raising his wand to point at the tip of Malfoy’s nose he said very clearly and slowly. “Open your mouth.” Malfoy clamped his teeth together as tightly as he could and shook his head.

“Damn it Malfoy. There’s no need for you to be injured in this. Just open up.” As might have been expected Malfoy continued to refuse. “All right, if that’s what you want. Hermione.” He held out the vial which Hermione took.

Moving a little closer Harry held up his fist. “Last chance Malfoy, open up.” Another shake of Malfoy’s head sent Harry’s fist into Malfoy’s gut. The pale boy tried to double over as a great whoosh of air was forcefully expelled from him. Wasting no time Harry grabbed at Malfoy’s jaws prying them open before the blonde could get them closed again. “Hermione, go.” He called.  
Hermione rushed forward and reached between Harry’s hands. Carefully she dripped three drops of the veritaserum into Malfoy’s mouth. Once the potion was in the two backed off waiting for the effect to take hold.

Less than a minute later Malfoy’s eyes blanked out.

“State your name.” Hermione said.

“Draco Lucius Malfoy.”

“How did you get here?” Harry asked.

“I don’t really know. I wrote in the diary, it said it could lead me here. When the door opened I lost consciousness.”

“Diary? What diary?” Hermione jumped in.

“The diary of Tom Riddle. Goyle found it over winter break. I was feeling annoyed because my parents left me here while they went to France so I made him give it to me. When I wrote in it Tom wrote back and told me about how he opened the chamber years ago but was forced to close it again. He told me how he framed the oaf Hagrid and got him expelled. Too bad he wasn’t sent to Azkaban.”

“Where is the diary now?” Harry asked before Malfoy could get too far on that topic.

“In my pocket. Once Tom was controlling my body he put it away.”

“Controlling your body?” Hermione jumped on that topic. “What do you mean by that.”

“The diary contains a piece of Tom. Because of that it is able to take control of someone who writes in it. Once he has control he no longer needs them to be holding or writing in the diary. I remained sort of awake until he got to the door of the chamber, once the door opened I couldn’t stay awake any more.”

“When did you first come to the chamber?” Harry asked.

“January, just before the attack on the mudbloods.”

“So the attacks before christmas weren’t you.” Hermione said in a thoughtful voice. It seemed she didn’t really mean for it to be a question, but Malfoy answered anyway.

“No, I didn’t have the diary then. I don’t know who did those attacks. If I did I would send them flowers. Good riddance I say.”

“How do we make sure this diary can’t do this again?” Harry had dug the little black leather bound book from Malfoy’s pocket and held it up for Hermione to see.

“I don’t know. Goyle found it in the girls toilets, someone tried to flush it. I threw it in the fire once I knew what it was. Tom said he spelled the diary so that nothing can harm it.”

“How did the diary get into the castle in the first place?” Hermione wondered aloud, again not seeming to expect an answer.

She got one. “My father gave it to The Weaselet at Flourish and Blotts before term began. He told me not to get involved.”

Before either Harry or Hermione could follow up with a new question there was a cry of pain from one of the twins. Looking over they saw one of the two had moved away from the snake to one of the columns. He had a finger in his mouth and something in the opposite hand.

“You okay?” Harry called across to him.

“Yeah Harry, just nicked myself picking this up.” He held up the thing he held in his uninjured hand. Harry recognized it now, the broken off piece of fang from where the snake had tried to bite the illusion of himself that the twins had sent to confuse Riddle.

“Well, be more careful next time.” Hermione said. “You nearly gave me a heart attack.”

Luna wandered over to look at the injury as Harry and Hermione turned back to Malfoy.

A few more minutes of questions revealed no new information leaving the two to ponder their next move. In a fit of frustration Harry wandered over towards the twins and Luna, hoping that a bit of distraction might help his beleaguered brain to come up with something.

Fred was sealing the last of the barrels while George was sitting on the floor staring at his finger. Looking closer Harry saw that George’s finger was turning black, and the darkening colour was spreading up the finger and across the hand. As he watched George’s eyes fluttered and he keeled over, nearly crushing Luna in the process.

“George!” Fred cried out leaping to his brother's side. “George, what happened? What’s wrong?”

“Basilisk venom.” Hermione cried as she joined the group snatching up the fang that George had dropped next to where he sat. “Oh no, I didn’t realize. We need to get him to the hospital wing.”

“George, hold on. You’re gonna be fine. Just hold on.” It was difficult to ignore the tears in Fred’s voice, but ignoring how they flowed down his cheeks was impossible.

But it was Luna who spoke next. “I guess it’s time to tell you what I’ve been doing.” That got attention, Harry and Hermione turned to look at her curiously. “Yes I suppose it’s time. Azure, I need your help please.” Harry blinked, not sure if he had heard her correctly.

A brilliant flash of flame appeared in the air above them and a beautiful red and gold bird landed on Luna’s shoulder. It was almost two feet tall, with a tail even longer than its body. It’s small head rotated slowly around observing the little group with small glittering eyes that almost seemed to blaze with their own inner flame.

“Azure darling, my friend George there pricked his finger on a basilisk fang. I was hoping you might be able to help him.” Luna smiled up at the bird, stroking its breast.

The brilliant bird opened its beak and trilled. A feeling of peace washed over the group, even Fred stopped fretting for a moment and almost smiled. Before the feeling had passed the bird flapped once and glided down to rest next to George. It tapped its beak against his arm and leaned down to look at the wound. It’s looking really close, I wonder if its nearsighted, Harry thought before he realized that the bird was actually crying. Thick pearly tears were dripping from the birds eye directly onto the wound. Curious what it thought this would do, or if this was even what Luna had in mind Harry leaned closer. The dark veins which had begun to reach up to George’s wrist receded, pulling back along his hand and down his finger until only a small black spot remained where the fang had caught him. A moment later and even that was gone, leaving behind only a small scar.

George blinked and sat up looking around at everyone. “Hey guys, it’s good to know you all care. I think I’m okay now though.” Reaching over he slid one finger over the head of the bird. “Thanks Fawkes, not sure how you knew to help but I’m glad you came.”

The bird trilled again and Harry was sure he could hear a question in the musical sound.  
“This is Azure.” Luna said reaching over to stroke the feathers of the beautiful bird. “Who’s Fawkes?”

Fred answered for his brother. “Dumbledore’s phoenix. We’ve been called up to his office a few times, so we’ve met him. Looks just like that.” He motioned to the bird which was now rubbing its head against Luna’s shoulder.

“Oh that makes sense then. Azure is a phoenix too.”

“Luna, how did you get a phoenix?” Hermione stammered.

“Umm, it would probably be easier to show you, but that will have to wait. The book is in Harry’s library.”

“Luna, is that the book you’ve been reading? Did it tell you how to get a phoenix?”

“Sort of.” She smiled up at them.

“Well regardless of how you did it, I’m glad you did.” Said George. “Hard to say how long it would have taken Madam Pomfrey to clear that up.”

An awkward, slow laugh fluttered around the group and they started picking themselves up off the floor. Fred helping his brother, refused to let go once they were standing. As though he wanted to make sure nothing else happened to him.

“Maybe we should get out of here for now. We can come back later to deal with the rest of that.” Hermione said pointing at the dead basilisk.

“What about him?” George asked pointing at Malfoy.

“And the diary.” Added Harry.

“Ooh, Harry, the diary.”

“Yes Hermione, I just said that.”

“No Harry, basilisk venom is supposed to be one of the most destructive substances known to wizards. It has only one cure.” Pointing at the bird which was now back on Luna’s shoulder she continued. “Phoenix tears. Maybe that would be able to destroy the book.”

“Oh, good idea. See, I told you. You retain more information than I do. I read that passage too, but you remembered it first. Here let’s try it.” Reaching over he took the fang from Hermione and returned to where he had dropped the small book in his haste to get to George. “Well, here goes.” Raising the fang high he brought it down as hard as he could on the cover of the book.

True to its nature the fang pierced all the way through. Great gouts of black ink gushed out of the thing as though it had been alive and this was its blood. A wailing could be heard from it though it seemed somehow distant, as though it was coming from across a great chasm.

“Well, that wasn’t creepy at all.” Said Fred as he and George came up behind them.

“Nope not in the least brother mine. I certainly won’t be having any nightmares about it.” Added George.

“Indeed George, no nightmares at all. Although, it is rather late. I think perhaps a change of scenery would be good, don’t you.”

“I do Fred. Definitely a change of scenery.”

“Alright, alright. We’ll go.” Harry smirked at them.

“What are we going to do about Malfoy?” Hermione asked.

“Leave him here?” The twins asked hopefully. Hermione scowled at them.

“Okay, we can’t leave him here. But I do have an idea.” Fred said with a mischievous gleam in his eye.

“Oh, that reminds me.” Harry nearly yelled, causing the others to look at him as though he had just stated an intention to move to a farm in order to become a banker. “Dobby, are you here?” He asked into the air.

“Harry Potter sir is calling Dobby?” The little elf popped up next to Harry.

“Oh good you’re here. Come over here Dobby.” He quickly led the elf around behind Malfoy and before anyone could ask what he was doing he flung his sodden tie over Malfoy’s arms.

This brought the boy out of the slump he had fallen into once the veritaserum had worn off. “What are you doing Potter? Get this off me.” The blonde fairly screamed at him.

“Tell you what, you say Dobby take this, and I will keep it as far from you as I can.”

“What, why would I say that?” The boy looked rather puzzled.

“Because I said so. And that’s the price of its removal.”

“Oh fine, Dobby take this infernal tie. There now,” But before he could say anything else the little elf ran over and grabbed the tie form Malfoy. “What.”

“Dobby has got a tie.” The little elf said, tears in his eyes. “Young bad master has given Dobby a tie. Dobby, Dobby is free.” With a great whoop the elf leaped into the air and flung himself around Harry’s legs. “Great master Harry Potter sir, Dobby is not knowing how to thank you.”

“Well Dobby, if you’re up for it. I can think of a couple of things. But that can wait until tomorrow. Although, you can pop around the castle. Could you take us back to our beds so we don’t get caught out after hours?”

Dobby nodded his head so hard that his great bat like ears flopped enough to sound like they were clapping. “Oh yes master Harry Potter sir, Dobby can be doing that.”

“Great Dobby, give us a couple minutes to take care of Malfoy here and we’ll get going.”

The next morning the castle was abuzz with the news that Draco Malfoy had been found tied to a chair in the great hall with a sign hung around his neck. A sign with a small vial taped to it which read. Hello, this is veritaserum, one drop and I’ll tell you how I opened the Chamber of Secrets. Two drops and I’ll tell you who else was involved. Three drops and I’ll tell you anything else you want to know.


	28. Chapter 28

If the friends hoped that by revealing Malfoy’s part in the opening of the Chamber the various restrictions on movement around the castle would be lifted. They were terribly mistaken. If anything the teachers became even more restrictive.

At breakfast it was announced that more patrols would be done, and that all student movements would be accompanied by at least one teacher. The worst part of this for Harry was slipping away after the Ravenclaws had been delivered to the tower in order to find a safe place to sleep.

Thanks to all the restrictions it became very difficult for the group of friends to meet up. Because of this, Harry was taking to solo study again. On the plus side he had been able to find the book Luna had used to get herself a phoenix. The answer to that mystery proved to be quite fascinating. It was actually in one of the student journals that he hadn’t gotten to yet.

The answer was that she had created it. The journal explained that familiars come in two forms. Produced and created. A produced familiar is a slightly magical animal that you forge a connection with via a potion and ritual. A created familiar is an extremely magical animal that you must magically create through potions and rituals, in the process of the creatures creation a strong bond is formed with the creature. Phoenix it seemed were only one option for created familiars. There were also faux dragons, basilisks, and chimera. The journal further explained that in the event of a person with the ability to speak with animals that magic would prevent them from creating a familiar with whom they could not speak. There was a side note next to this entry that stated the author was well pleased that faux dragons are technically a snake species as he would not be happy to be stuck with a basilisk.

Wait, what. Harry thought as he went back and reread that part. And reread it again. One of his Potter ancestors was a parselmouth, and was able to create a faux dragon familiar because that species is technically a snake. Blinking rapidly, he found a notebook and began to copy out the method and potions he would need to create one of these creatures. With a sigh he noted that while Luna’s phoenix took a little less than a month, his faux dragon would take almost two. It would hatch just a few days before time to catch the train back to London.

While the lack of his friends was the worst part of the change in the school, a close second was his meeting with Dobby. While the elf was well pleased to be free and to help Harry, he was unable to do what Harry needed most at this moment. Although the revelation that Dobby had originally been a Potter elf was interesting, apparently he was part of the property Malfoy had stolen from his family.

On the eighth day of the new restrictions an announcement at breakfast nearly made Harry leap for joy. Lucious Malfoy would be visiting the school as part of a delegation to investigate what happened to his son. Dumbledore was leading the investigation, but that could be worked around. The only downside was that he would have very little time to test the batch of veritaserum he was brewing, as it would be complete only a day or two before they arrived.

The month dragged by in a cacophony of classes, homework, reading, spell practice, and brewing. Finally the day came, the veritaserum was ready, and the plan was set. Dobby would wait for a moment when either the elder Malfoy was alone, or at least unobserved. He would grab the older blonde and pop him down to the chamber, trussed up much as his son had been. Then he would grab Harry. Lucious would be questioned and Harry would have some answers. The only part he wasn’t sure of was the part of the plan that called for obliviating the man. He couldn’t risk leaving his memory intact, but he wasn’t entirely sure if he had the spell right, and had no way of testing to be sure.

The first part of the plan went off without a hitch. Apparently Lucious had a call of nature upon arriving at the castle. Dobby grabbed him as he was washing his hands. Within a few minutes of the delegation entering the castle Harry was approaching the elder Malfoy in the chamber, a vial of truth serum clutched in his trembling fist.

“Well, fancy meeting you here Malfoy. I do hope you like the decoration.” He was playing up the creepy factor for all he had, but he hoped that it would break through the man’s exterior.

The effort did seem to work a bit at least. The blonde was looking around almost frantically, a wild, frightened look in his eyes.

Holding up the vial Harry tried to make his eyes as hard as possible. “Open up Malfoy, you’re going to answer some questions for me.”

“Potter,” Malfoy sneered, “you won’t get away with this. Release me now and I will consider some leniency for you.” Malfoy’s icy voice was far better at frightening Harry than he thought his own had been at frightening Malfoy.

Fortunately, Harry had a simple ace to counter that. One he was happy to use. “Malfoy, look around you. Do you even know where you are? This is the Chamber of Secrets. I’m the only person alive who can open it. All I have to do is turn around and leave. You’ll never be found, no one will ever know what happened to you. So, make a choice, open up,” he shook the vial for emphasis, “or learn what real hunger feels like.”

The bound man seemed to consider his options for a minute before finally he opened his mouth.  
Tipping in the required three drops, Harry leaned against a pillar waiting for the serum to take hold of the older man. Once his eyes blanked out Harry began his questions.

“Why did you give Tom Riddle's diary to Ginny Weasley?”

“I heard a rumour from my son that the dark lord made an appearance at Hogwarts last year. I knew that the diary was a way for him to return should anything happen to him, and a means for him to drive the unworthy from the castle and return to power at the same time. As it seemed he was beginning to move again at long last I wanted to give him the best possible chance at success.”

“Are there any other items like the diary?”

“I know of one other. A cup with Hufflepuff’s badger on it. It was given to Bellatrix who was told to place it in her vault at Gringotts. There were rumours of others, but I do not know what they were.”

“What is Bellatrix’s vault number?”

“One hundred twenty three. It is in the lowest levels of gringotts.”

“Where are my family’s heirlooms?”

“Most are in my vault at gringotts. A few are on display in my home in Wiltshire. Some were sold, I do not know where they ended up.”

“What is your vault number?”

“Six hundred ninety seven. Not as prestigious as I would like, but nothing can be done about that at the moment.”

“What of my family library, where is that?”

“In the manor in Wiltshire.”

“What is the address of your manor?”

“Seventeen Carapace Lane, Wiltshire.”

“Why did you join Voldemort?”

“I like hurting people. The dark lord gave me free reign to torture as many as I wanted.”

“What other crimes have you committed?”

“I have tortured thirty-three muggles, nineteen mudbloods, and seven blood traitors. I have killed ninety three muggles, thirty mudbloods, and twenty two blood traitors. I have kept at least three women captive under the imperius curse constantly since I was sixteen. I use these women for my pleasure. I have held my wife under the cruciatus curse on six occasions.”

“Okay, you can stop there. Thank you for your assistance.” Harry pulled a notebook from his pocket and wrote down the information he had been given. He wasn’t entirely sure what he would do with it yet, but at least he had it. Now to wait for the effects of the serum to wear off. To kill time, he pulled out the map of Hogwarts he had been making of the castle, to which he was adding the chamber and its side rooms.

When Malfoy was back to himself and had begun ranting about being treated like a common criminal, Harry lifted his wand and stunned him. Taking a deep breath he stepped over and focused his thoughts on the last hour. He needed to make Malfoy forget everything after he entered the toilet.

“Obliviate.” Harry felt the spell take hold of the older man’s mind and begin to rip apart the memories he needed gone. But then it reached for other memories, and suddenly Harry was fighting his own spell. The spell wanted to reach into its target and destroy everything. Harry took hold of the spell with his magic and pulled. The spell pulled back. Harry’s thoughts whirled, what was this? How did his own spell go so horribly wrong? His intent had only been to get rid of a little over an hour, not everything. With an exhausting pull he at last wrenched the spell back. It went with a snarl as though it was angry at not being able to take more of the blonde’s memories.

Shaking his head, hoping he wouldn’t have to deal with anything else like that for a while, Harry called for Dobby. With a pop the little guy appeared. “Master Harry Potter sir called Dobby.”

“Hey Dobby, yeah. I got what I need, can you take Malfoy back where you found him please Dobby?”

“Dobby is most happy to do whatever Master Harry Potter sir asks.” The little elf quickly wrapped himself around Harry’s knees before with a snap of his fingers both he and Malfoy vanished.

Harry had the longer, tougher job. Flying back up the tunnel entrance on his broom.

Several hours later at dinner, Dumbledore rose to address the students.

“Good evening Hogwarts. I thank you for opening your doors today. As I’m sure many of you have heard we have been host to a team of investigators into the attack on young Mister Malfoy, at the behest of his father.” Here Dumbledore paused to motion to the older blonde. “While Mister Malfoy has indicated that the attack against him was perpetrated by several of our Gryffindor students, it was also clear that Mister Malfoy had been subjected to a poorly performed memory charm. As the elder Mister Malfoy has refused the use of either veritaserum or legilimency in order to reverse the blocks on Mister Malfoy’s memories so that we may be certain of what happened we are without any actual evidence. Therefore we must,”

Everyone looked around wondering what had caused the headmaster to pause in his speech. It quickly became apparent as an owl winged down and landed on the podium where Dumbledore stood. It stuck out its leg where a letter was held.

Retrieving the letter Dumbledore looked it over and then read aloud.

Professor Dumbledore,

We the Board of Governors for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry have determined two things. First we have sacked Mister Lucious Malfoy from this august body. Second, we demand that you, Professor Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore return to the position of Headmaster immediately.

Thank you kindly,

Madam Augusta Longbottom

Board of Governors

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

  
“There is a second sheet here that details their reasons for the sacking of Mister Malfoy. Which includes an allegation that he may have instructed his son in how to open the Chamber of Secrets. Dear me, it would seem that some of the rumors of the past few days have reached them.”

A look of absolute fury passed over the face of the elder Malfoy, who was turning to speak quietly with one of the red robed people who had arrived with the delegation. That person in turn went to speak with Dumbledore and the young clerk who had been following the group around, taking notes, all day.

Dumbledore turned back to the crowd of students. “Apparently our investigation is not quite complete. I beg your indulgence in this. Please enjoy your dinner while us old fogies talk.”

A moment later the entire contingent plus professor Mcgonagall had left the great hall. A murmur returned as the many students began exchanging theories as to what was going to happen. Harry and Luna shared a look and tucked into dinner hoping that they would be able to slip away and meet with their Gryffindor friends after the meal.

It was not until breakfast that the school learned what had been decided by the investigators. Dumbledore was back, which they already knew from the letter sent by the governors. The surprising bit was when Dumbledore confirmed that the creature which had been petrifying people had been dealt with and would no longer threaten the students of Hogwarts. He said nothing about the heir, which everyone was commenting on after the meal. But the best part as far as Harry was concerned was the lifting of all security restrictions which meant he would be able to spend time with his friends again without having to sneak about.

After classes let out for the day professor Flitwick had sent Harry a note to meet in his office. With trepidation Harry approached the door.

“Good evening professor, you wanted to see me?” He asked as he entered the office.

“Ah, welcome Harry, come in, have a seat. Tea?” He held up the pot and after Harry’s nod poured two cups. “Yes, there are two things. First with the movement restrictions lifted we can get back to your training if you wish to continue.” At Harry’s cheerful nod he continued. “The second is a bit more serious I’m afraid. The headmaster has requested to meet with you, he will be joining us shortly. Feel free to relax a bit and get your thoughts together while we wait.

“Umm would you mind joining me in a bit mental practice professor? It’s the one thing I haven’t really been able to practice properly on my own, and it helps me calm my nerves and get my thoughts in order.”

“Ooh, good thinking. Certainly, why don’t you begin. What spell am I thinking of?”

Several minutes later Dumbledore entered the office to witness one of his professors, and one of his students giggling at each other over tea. “Well this is refreshing. I would hope that such scenes of merriment shall be repeated often. Unfortunately, I’m afraid that I have to bring the mood down. May I join you?” The headmaster motioned to the table and Flitwick poured a new cup of tea pointing to one of the empty seats.

“So what is this about sir?” Harry asked wanting to get the worst out of the way quickly so hopefully he could return to the fun parts of being at Hogwarts.

“Well Harry as you know we were investigating what happened to Mister Malfoy yesterday.” He looked down his long misshapen nose at Harry his eyes twinkling. Harry steadfastly stared at the mans teacup not wanting the headmaster to think that he was being defiant in any way. After a moment Dumbledore sighed and continued. “Can you not think of a reason I might want to speak with you about that Harry?”

Not sure what the headmaster wanted, though he had a guess Harry simply shook his head.

“Harry, young Mister Malfoy indicated that you were the one who attacked him. As he refused to take veritaserum and could offer no proof I was able to prevent any action taken against you. However I doubt that Lucious will be so discerning. The more I know about what happened, the more I can do to help you.”

Frantic thoughts raced through Harry’s head undoing the calm he had managed to build up while joking with professor Flitwick. They had abandoned thinking of spells in favor of rude words and insults for the bigots of the wizarding world, sending each other into gales of laughter. But worry over what Malfoy might have said and how he could be sure of getting the information he needed the headmaster to have in order to prevent him turning on Harry now rushed around his head. “Umm, well, I guess.” And an idea came, a wonderful glorious idea. If it worked it would solve everything. “Okay, but we should get professor Mcgonagall here too. She had a part in it.”  
Dumbledore blinked, a look of mild confusion on his face as he leaned back.

“I’ll call her.” Said Flitwick as he hopped off the chair and hurried over to the fireplace. A handful of powder ready to be thrown into the flames. Two whooshes of green flame later and the head of Gryffindor was joining them at the table.

“Good evening professor Mcgonagall, thank you for joining us.” Dumble said as he stood to pull out a chair for the severe looking woman.

“Good evening Albus, what brings us together this evening?” Mcgonagall answered as she took up the cup of tea Flitwick offered.

“Ah yes, Mister Potter is going to share a story with us.” With a smile, he turned to Harry, joined by Mcgonagall.

“This would be easier if you had a pensieve, I don’t suppose I’d be that lucky?” Harry asked the professors. His plan hinged on the use of the artifact, however if he could, he didn’t want to reveal his library.

Dumbledore blinked again. “I do have a pensieve. Though I am surprised you know about them. They aren’t a common item after all. I can have it here in a moment. Plippy.” With a soft pop a house elf appeared. This one was wearing a small toga embroidered with the Hogwarts crest.

It turned to the headmaster and in a voice even higher and more squeaky than Dobby’s asked. “What does professor white beard need from Plippy sir?”

‘Plippy I need my pensieve brought here please.”

With a nod the elf popped away and a moment later returned with a stone bowl which Harry recognized as a newer version of his own pensieve.

“Thank you Plippy. Now Harry, do you know how this works?”

“Yes sir.” Harry replied drawing his wand. It had taken a few practice runs to get the spell right to remove a memory from his head to view in his own pensieve. This time was a bit more important, and so he took an extra moment to focus. There were three memories he wanted to share. First how they had figured out where the entrance to the chamber was and what the creature was. Second going into the chamber and fighting Tom and the basilisk. And finally the questioning of Malfoy. In between pulling out memories he explained this to the three teachers watching him. When all the memories were in the bowl he motioned for them to go ahead. With a shared look all three reached forward and entered the pensieve.

Harry sat and sipped at his tea, reordering his thoughts from where they had been scrambled. He would need to be able to answer questions when the teachers returned. It took longer than he thought it would, but finally the three rose back up to their normal positions and turned to look at him. Without a word Mcgonagall rose from the table and strode over to the fireplace. Another handful of powder and another whoosh of green flame and the twins and Hermione strode into the room. Flitwick meanwhile had left the room and returned a minute later with Luna in tow.

“To begin with, it seems that we owe the five of you an apology.” Began Mcgonagall. “When you brought your information to us earlier in the year we did check it out. However when we were unable to open the entrance we assumed you had either been wrong or been playing a prank on us. Clearly we should have worked harder, or asked for your assistance in opening the Chamber.”

“Furthermore you shall each receive a reward for special services to the school for your efforts. As well as, yes I think two hundred points each.” Dumbledore added.

“As for Mister Malfoy.” Flitwick began, only to be cut off by Dumbledore again.

“Regrettably nothing can be done to Mister Malfoy. Between having been duped by Voldemort and the charges he could potentially bring against our young heroes I am afraid that we must leave his involvement out of any official statement.”

“Most of the students will be able to put it together,” Said Flitwick with a small frown. “There is likely to be some form of retaliation against him.”

Mcgonagall stated. “Things are already returning to normal, and there really isn’t any need to inform them of any of this. I expect we will be able to handle any situation that arises. Though we should warn Severus to keep an eye out for his snakes as well.”

“You may be right Minerva.” Dumbledore twinkled. “Yes let’s leave things as they are for the moment. We can always inform the students later if the need comes.”

After that the students were dismissed and lacking any other pressing matters the five friends went to their favorite room.

“Well, that was unexpected.” Fred said as they settled at the table.

“She apologised.” George added with a stunned expression.

“And the headmaster gave us two hundred points.” Hermione intoned, her voice a bit solemn.

Harry leaned over and jostled her with his shoulder. “Just think you’ll be able to rub it in Lavender’s face that you got more points for Gryffindor than anyone else.”

A moment later they were all helping Luna up from the floor as she had fallen off her chair laughing loudly. Within moments the whole group was laughing with her as she had started another tickle war. They spent the evening laughing and reconnecting after the weeks of forced separation. They agreed to avoid any serious topics for the evening, preferring to leave those for another time.


	29. Chapter 29

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the late post. Family drama. I'll go ahead and post tomorrow's as well, just in case.

The last few weeks of classes were marked with much study and several pranks. To Harry though the most notable moments were explaining to Hermione how Luna had gotten a phoenix. She instantly demanded to read the journal and stated her intention to have a familiar by the time they returned to school. The twins looked it over as well, but kept their thoughts to themselves. Luna pulling a box out of her bag and offering it to Harry, explaining that it contained something she had found in the room of lost things, and that the hinklepuffs had told her that he would need it later. The return of Hagrid the day after the announcement that the threat had passed. And the best of all, the day the twins, Hermione and Luna all took their first dose of animagus potion revealing their forms for the first time.

As one might guess the twins became the same kind of animal, something Harry had only seen in pictures as the species was not native to Britain. Two small furry animals with long fluffy gray and black striped tails. Their little faces painted up with black bands across their eyes. Hermione said it first.

“Racoons, why didn’t I guess that. Mischievous little brats.” Squeaking merrily the twin menaces scampered around and began wrestling with one another.

“Alright Hermione, your turn.” Harry said.

Lifting the vial to her mouth she smiled. A minute later where Hermione had stood there was now a long, low slung brown furred body. Much like Hermione herself, the fur was rather bushier than normal even for this species.

“Ooh Hermione, you’re beautiful.” Luna said reaching out to stroke the thick ruff of fur around her ears.

“And powerful too.” Harry added. “Did you know poodles were bred to hunt lions? If you hurry there’s a pair of them over there you could catch.” He added with a wink.

With a bark Hermione bounded towards the racoons who were still playing off to one side.  
“My turn.” Luna said lifting her own vial. She winked at Harry as she drank it down. And then she began to grow, not much, though she stretched in every direction. Spots of black and white fur erupted all over as her face elongated into a furry snout and her legs, arms, and torso expanded. As the transformation completed she sat down heavily and cocked her head peering at Harry as if to question what he thought.

Stepping up, he reached out and stroked one ear gently. “Softer than it looks.” He said reverently. With a growl that filled the small room the panda bear reached out and wrapped Harry in a hug. Moments later two racoons and a poodle joined in. “Okay, okay. Let me go and I’ll take mine.” Harry laughed as he pushed furry bodies and wet tongues away.

Grabbing up his own vial he turned to his badger form and the five spent a few hours playing as animals.

The worst part of the time was the twins insisting on returning to the chamber to finish gathering ingredients from the basilisk. After a bit of searching through both the Hogwarts and Harry’s libraries they had found all the information they needed to get the best parts. Including what would sell on the market. It took three days to finish the job, but they had enough parts to make a tidy profit and keep a good bit for themselves.

Hagrid invited them all down to visit one more time with Norbert before term ended and in a moment of likely insanity they agreed. When they got down to the clearing Hagrid was there with a table set up, a house elf laying out a picnic. The elf looked a little frightened likely due to the size of the dragon in the clearing, which now rivalled the size of Hagrid’s hut. Norbert had gotten big, but at least Hagrid had managed to train him not to breathe fire at guests. At least not right away Harry thought as Norbert let out a jet of flame into the sky.

“Well, at least we know it won’t get cold here.” Luna said into the silence that followed. The twins goggled at her and fell over clutching each other in fits of giggles.

The visit went well, lots of chatter about the year and the challenges. The twins even got their picture taken with Norbert, something they had previously said they would never do.

During one of the lulls in conversation as everyone was spread out looking around the clearing Harry found something he had been looking for since he read Wodred’s journal. A wand wood tree that hummed with his magic. He could tell it was wand quality from the colony of bowtruckles that scampered around on it, and he could he feel a sort of thrumming energy in the air that was matched by an answering hum from his magic. Now he just needed something to bribe the bowtruckles with.

In the end he had come back the next day with a double handful of faery eggs he had pinched from the care of magical creatures teacher. The bowtruckles were quite pleased to allow him access to the tree after that. It took a few minutes to extract the amount of heartwood he needed for his staff, which he took into his trunk and placed in the first potion needed. It would take a little over a month to complete, but soon he would have a proper wizards staff.

As he was tucking the length of wood into the potion he remembered something Hagrid had said. “Hagrid, I just remembered, I’d forgotten in all the excitement. You said something about following spiders for answers. What did you mean?”

“Oh, sorry about that. It’s too bad you didn’t go, I’ll try to take you next year. My friend Aragog coulda told ya a lot of stuff. But if you didn’t go looking for him, how did you find out?”

“There’s always more than one route to the truth Hagrid. We just took a different path to get there.” Hermione smiled at the oversized man child.

Soon enough classes were finished. End of term exams were done. Everyone was packing up and getting ready to return home. And Harry was preparing to meet his new familiar. Hedwig had decided to join him for the momentous occasion of the birth.

The process had been grueling. Four separate potions, on top of getting hold of a crocodile egg, which then had to be transfigured and charmed several times. The egg had to incubate in each of the four potions for several days, before finally being placed in a warming tray which had to be kept near to where he slept. But finally after all the work the big day was here.

He and Hedwig sat watching and waiting as the egg began to stir. A twitch, a hop, a crack. A tiny hole opened and Harry wanted to help, but the instructions were clear. He had to let the little creature work its own way out of the egg. The hole opened a little further, a tiny snout poked through. The egg cracked more, more of the tiny reptilian thing squirmed out. With a loud snap the egg burst and lying on the warming plate was a miniature dragon with iridescent butterfly like wings, and six legs. It looked about itself, scanned its immediate vicinity and coughed. A little puff of smoke burst from its mouth and it yawned and stretched.

Turning it took up a piece of the egg it had just emerged from and chomped. Within moments it had devoured the egg and was lapping up the last of the juice that had flowed out with it. Meal done it looked up at Harry and burped. Harry couldn’t help it, it was just too funny to watch the little thing like that. He chuckled softly and the little dragon seemed to smile. It cocked its head at Hedwig and seemed to consider her. Hedwig ruffled her feathers and seemed to shake herself in a haughty sort of way and looked down her beak at the little lizard.

The little dragon rose up on its hind legs and shot a wisp of smoke in her direction as though it were saying, so there. Harry laughed again. Hedwig glared at him and turned about showing her tail feathers. The newest addition to the group scurried over and climbed up Harry's arm to look him in the eye. It cocked its head this way and that seeming to look for the best viewing angle before it nodded and burrowed under his shirt to wrap around his neck.

“Oh, oh, hey that tickles.” Harry giggled out as the little creature found a comfortable spot to curl up. Within moments he could feel soft even breaths against his neck, it seemed the little thing had fallen asleep.

Reaching over to pet Hedwig he asked her. “Well, what do you think girl?”

She turned back and eyed him for a minute before hopping over and rubbing her head against his chest. “Yeah, I like him too.” He said as he stroked her feathers.

Two days later they were back on the train headed for London. The friends shared a compartment where they were joined by Neville Longbottom and Lee Jordan, friends of Hermione and the twins respectively who wanted to hear more about what had happened in the chamber. After the two promised not to tell anyone they were told the story.

Along the way they discussed their summer plans. The Weasley family was taking a trip to Egypt, apparently Arthur had won some kind of prize and was splurging. Harry’s first few weeks back were going to be full of the trial of the Dursleys. Mr. and Mrs. Granger had sent him a letter explaining that they had everything ready for him to press his charges against them as soon as he got there. And once the trial was done they were all hoping to spend some time together.


	30. Chapter 30

Two weeks into the summer holidays Harry was having fun learning to handle extreme boredom. When they had arrived at Kings Cross Station the summer looked like it was going to be great. The Grangers had informed him that they were ready to welcome him into their home again. And even better they had made all the arrangements needed for pressing charges against the Dursley’s. But now two weeks of sitting in a courtroom, daily, listening to witness after witness he was almost willing to drop some of the charges just to have it done with.

Not that he had been idle outside of the court. Between reading through the family student journals his father had left for him in his gringotts vault, feeding his new familiar, who he really needed to name, and getting to properly know his new family. He had been pretty busy. He had been planning to work on his other project, creating for himself a wizard's staff, but he couldn’t decide on how he wanted it to look when it was done, which was slowing the process a lot.

Today though, was expected to be the last day of testimony. Today if everything went right those lumps of flesh pretending to be humans would finally get their comeuppance. The court had been in recess for the last hour as deliberations happened, but any second now the hammer of justice should fall. Yes, there, the judge was retaking the bench.

Harry looked over at where his former family were seated in the defendants section. Technically they were each on trial for separate charges, but due to their relation, the judge had decided to hold the trials together. Or possibly it was just to save the judge from having to deal with them for even longer, they had each of them tried to draw things out longer than was proper.

Banging his gavel the judge called for order and everyone settled to listen. “This has been a rather drawn out affair, and it really didn’t need to be. I have rarely seen such blatant attempts to convince this court that a crime against a child somehow was justified by the criminals dislike of said child. In light of this I am applying the harshest possible penalties. Dudley Dursley, let’s start with you. You will be remanded to St. Brutus's secure center for incurably criminal boys. You shall remain there until your majority, at which time you will undergo an evaluation of your behavior. If you have not improved your sentence may be increased. Petunia Dursley, you shall be serving twelve years in Askham Grange, and you will be required to pay a fine of twenty five thousand pounds. Finally, Vernon Dursley, you will be remanded to Erlestoke penitentiary for fifteen years. Furthermore you shall be required to pay a fine of thirty thousand pounds. Furthermore to these, the family Dursley shall be required to pay Mister Harry Potter a sum of five thousand pounds for each year he lived with them, for a total of fifty five thousand pounds.” The gavel fell and along with it the heads of the Dursleys who were led out quickly.

On the way out John Granger was commenting that if they don’t have enough to cover the fines and payment the court could seize their house to cover it. Harry hoped that would happen. But the best moment in leaving was meeting the Dursley’s on their way out. John pointed out to them that in his part of the world Harry was almost as famous and well loved as Sean Connery was in theirs. Seeing the Dursley’s go pale with the realization that hundreds of witches and wizards might well be hunting them even after they got out of prison was worth every second of boredom.

With the trial over they could focus on other things. Although the first order of business went through before they even made it back to the Granger home. When they got home, there was a message waiting for them declaring that the Grangers had been granted custody of one Harry Potter. After some discussion they agreed that Dumbledore must have pulled some strings and gotten the paperwork pushed through. It was the only explanation that made sense.

So it was that on the last day of the second week of summer holiday that the Grangers plus Harry Potter were on a plane heading for the United States for a week of camping at one of their national parks. Apparently John Granger had been planning this since christmas. He and his wife Jean had decided on a location that would allow Jean and Hermione to run into a nearby town if they got tired of hiking and nature. While Harry and John could enjoy all the delights of outdoor living.

The best part of these plans was that it gave Harry all the time he could ask for to bond with his new familiar, the adorable little faux dragon he still had yet to name. And to decide on a design for his staff.

The staff design came to fruition in his mind almost as soon as they got their camp set up. A group of hikers happened by just as he was setting the final pole for his tent. Several of them were carrying walking canes of various designs. In a flash of inspiration he saw in his mind's eye a twisted short staff carved at the head with a few simple designs that hailed his adventures, in a way that would be obvious to those who knew him well but not to those who were not in the know. Before he could rush into the tent and begin work though his thoughts were interrupted by John.

“Hey Harry, now we’re set up. I have a surprise for you. Come here.” He waved from the table the park had provided for the site.

John was holding a book, it had a brown cover but Harry couldn’t see the title. “Harry, when I was your age I joined a group that helped boys grow into strong, reliable, confident men. This group has grown since then, and it is worldwide. They sponsor all sorts of events, mostly camping. If you think you might be interested I would like to offer you a place. It starts with this book.” He laid the book on the table in front of Harry. The boy scouts handbook, the title read. Flipping through it Harry found instructions for building campfires, towers, tents, and more. All manner of things for camping and survival in general. “If you want, Harry, we can start while we’re here. The whittling chip, fire starter badge, and several others take very little to achieve.” Looking up Harry saw that he was smiling gently.

A thought ran through his head, is this what having a dad is supposed to be like? He didn’t think uncle Vernon had ever done anything like that with Dudley. But the idea of learning these things was intriguing, and Harry realized he really wanted not just to learn, but more importantly to learn with John. He opened his mouth to say yes but couldn’t get the word out through the lump in his throat, so he simply nodded and looked back at the book. Wondering why it had gone suddenly blurry he blinked until his eyes focused properly. Huh, he had meant to go to the eye place in Diagon alley, but had forgotten with everything else that had been going on over the last year or so. He really should do that when they got back.

At the end of the week Harry couldn’t decide which part of the week had been the most interesting. Hermione had taught him about her memory palace, a method invented by someone years ago to improve memory. Basically you build a house in your head and use objects in the house to trigger memories. The dude in the site next to them had taught all four of the new family tai chi which was a moving meditation method based on eastern martial arts. If the movements were sped up they would become dangerous, but at the slow speed they were practiced at they were simply a means of focussing the mind. As a bonus it made great exercise. The park was thoroughly explored, including several varieties of magical animal that lived there hiding from the non-magicals. And Harry’s favorite, many hours spent with John learning more about the art of camping then he had ever thought could exist. They tied knots, made firebugs, started and put out the campfire a dozen times. And while they were doing all that, they grew closer.

On the other hand, there were the antics of his still unnamed familiar. The little fairie winged reptile was adorable, and even cuddly. However he was also slowly driving everyone up the walls. Almost every morning something was out of place. Socks were found among the cutlery, underwear hanging on lamp shades, shoes set on placemats at the table. Once he even tried to steal Hermione’s hair tie, while she was wearing it. Which was how they discovered it was him doing it. It was also how he got his name. Hermione pointed out that as he was such a trickster it was appropriate to name him after a trickster. And so his moniker was chosen, Loki.

The staff was finished on the fourth day of camping. Four and a half feet tall, which allowed for almost a foot of length above where he expected to hold it when he was fully grown. After the transfiguration placing the now crushed, potioned, and blooded stone he had received from the mirror in his first year, it was ready. As the mirror had shown himself with his parents giving him the stone he thought of it as a gift from them. He had carved a mirror, a snake, a feather, a campfire, and a badger into the head of the staff, leaving room for more carvings to be added later.

Then there was Hermione. She soon grew tired of hiking and nature, instead she dragged Jean off to town almost everyday. They came back laden with books and movies, and spent most of each evening curled on the camp chairs either lost in the worlds of the written word, or taking the joy of sharing a film with family.

Hermione even picked up a few books for Harry. The first she gave him was on the Celtic practices and their holy days. Which they knew from discussion were the old practices Luna and her father followed. Next was a book on wizarding travel which covered all the known methods magicals used to get from place to place. Others were new books on enchanting and ward/curse breaking which she knew Harry was interested in pursuing as a career after they finished school.

Shortly after the families return to Britain Harry and John made their way to diagon alley intent on checking out Oculus' eyecare studio to see what they could do for Harry’s eyes. It turned out they could do a fair amount. After a few minutes of diagnostics it was announced that they would be able to correct Harry’s eyes to perfectly normal vision and that the adjustment should last for at least ten years before any new adjustment would have to be made.

Apparently the method of correction was a fairly simple transfiguration. As it only changed the shape of the eyes it could be made to last for a very long time. Harry got curious when it was explained. He knew that normally simple changes could be made permanent, so why couldn’t this. The healer explained that while the effect could be made permanent, that wouldn’t actually help. Especially at Harry’s age. The eye’s changed shape slightly as the body grows she explained and if the transfiguration were made permanent that wouldn’t happen. She also told them that while the fix was expected to last ten years at least she recommended that he return to have his eyes checked again when he finished growing, usually around eighteen or nineteen years old, as the eyes may need to be adjusted at that time due to rapid body change.

A short discussion later and Harry was having his eyes transfigured.

As they were leaving the small eye care studio Harry caught sight of another shop that he wanted to visit. Linguistics, languages made easy was written across the shop window. When they entered the shop a sales clerk approached.

“Good afternoon sirs, how can we help you today? Can I interest you in our languages of Europe bundle perhaps?”

John took over and turned a bright smile on the man. “Good afternoon. Actually we saw the sign and wondered what exactly you mean by languages made easy? How easy, and does it cover written as well as spoken? How does the learning take place, and how much does it cost?”

The sales clerk smiled broadly. “All good questions. Well, it’s pretty simple really. You place one of our patented crystal learning matrices on your bedside table, activate it with your wand, and as you sleep the crystal installs the language in your head. Perfectly safe, and yes it covers written as well as spoken. Normally it’s one hundred galleons per language, however we have a special bundle right now, languages of Europe, which includes French, German, Spanish, Italian, and Dutch, for only four hundred fifty galleons. That’s a fifty galleon discount.”

John looked a question at Harry, who jumped in to ask one of his own. “Umm, is there a discount if we got them for several people at the same time. Say if we got one for each of our family members, which would be four?”

“Hmm, we do have group discounts available, however they begin at six person groups. Sorry.”

“Just a moment.” John said to the clerk leading Harry off to the side. They chatted quickly about options and returned, John taking up the conversation again. “Okay, so if we include our extended family we have thirteen, umm maybe. Does the crystal work on squibs?”

“Hmm, I don’t know. It’s never been tried on squibs. Just a moment, I need to ask my boss.” The clerk rushed into the back and a few minutes later returned smiling. “If you will agree to inform us of the results we will sell you the package for any squibs in your group at half price.”

“Oh excellent, there are two squibs in the family. So eleven magicals, and two squibs. Also along with the European bundle you mentioned we would like to add Gobbledygook, Mermish, and Bulgarian. Assuming you have those available. Also do you offer any dead languages such as the common rune sets?”

For a moment it seemed the clerk would be unable to respond, as he stood there mouth opening and closing, with no sound emerging. Finally he found his voice. “Yes we can add those, umm, regrettably we do not at this time offer any dead languages, however I will be sure to mention the idea to my boss. If that changes in the future we may offer you a discount on those for the advice. Shall we draw up the agreement?” He motioned to a small table.

It took close to an hour to hash out the agreement, in the end they got all the languages they were after, with an agreement that if the crystals didn’t work for John and Jean that they could return the unused ones for a refund. It was also explained that each crystal had to be activated each night for a month, and at least one week needed to pass before the next was activated. The final cost made Harry sweat. Eleven sets ended at six thousand four hundred and ninety galleons, plus the two sets for John and Jean at three thousand two hundred fifty. For a grand total of nine thousand seven hundred thirty five galleons. Which was very nearly everything he expected to get from the basilisk and goblin items. John however was quick to point out that the twins had gotten quite a bit from their own sales, and he would be happy to pay for his, Jeans, and Hermione’s.

A few minutes of signing and the deal was done. They left the shop proud owners of a large bag full of small language crystals. And had a long discussion on how best to share them out to the Weasley’s who were likely to balk at what they saw as charity.

On the way back out of the leaky cauldron they were confronted by a wanted poster. Sirius Black it seemed had broken out of Azkaban, which was most noteworthy because no one had ever managed that before. Looking at the poster Harry was amazed at the change in his father's best friend. The man’s hair had grown long, dirty, and matted. He had a wild, crazed look in his eyes. Harry experienced a full body shiver and he and John rushed to get home and warn the women of the house.

When they walked in the front door however Jean was waiting holding a non-magical newspaper. “Have you heard?” She asked, holding out the paper for them to see. On the front page was a non-moving photo of Black, with the headline dangerous prison breakout.

John took the paper and looked it over before responding. “Yes, it was up in the cauldron too.”

“Should we do anything?” Jean asked.

“I don’t know dear. Probably not. It’s hard to say what he might do, but even in the worst case scenario he won’t know how to find us, so we shouldn’t worry too much. Besides, if we change our plans it would be like letting him win, allowing him to determine our lives for us. I don’t think I want to do that. Do you?”

“No dear, I really don’t. I was just, I don’t know.”

Harry decided that he needed to jump in at this point before they devolved into over planning. “I think it’s okay to be worried. I mean he is a murderer, but I also agree with John. We can’t let the bad guys make our choices for us. That would be the same as stepping aside to let them do whatever they want.”

Jean smiled and even laughed a little. She leaned over and pulled Harry into a hug. “You’re right Harry. Thank you for keeping us poor old folk in line. Now, what did you find out about your eyes?”

A minute later Hermione had been called and the family was sitting down to afternoon tea discussing what they had done that day.

The biggest surprise of the day came after dinner. As the four were settling on the sofa to enjoy Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life there was a knock at the door. John went to answer and a moment later called for Harry. When Harry got to the door he was amazed to see Nicholas Flamel standing in the entryway.

“Harry this man says he has some business with you?” John said, the question clear in his voice.

Harry probably shouldn’t have been surprised. Flamel had told him that he would return once Harry had found a use for the stone, which he now had. But how had the man found him? Realizing he wasn’t going to find out if he just stood there gaping he opened his mouth to speak. “Hello Mister Flamel, it’s nice to see you again. I guess you realized I found a use for the stone. But how did you find me? I thought I was going to have to send you a message or something.”

Flamel smiled brightly. “The tracking charm I left on the stone alerted me that it had been used. As it was out of the country I came to the last place it had been in Britain and left an alert to let me know when you returned. I would have been here earlier, but I was held up by some business. I do apologize for the late visit. However, I felt that it was important to have a discussion about mentoring you as soon as possible.”

“Mentoring?” John asked. “And what stone are we talking about?”

“The stone I used for the core of my staff. Remember, the bright red one you cooed over.”

“I did not coo over it. I admired it.” John said with mock haughtiness. “It was quite a lovely stone. You didn’t tell me that anyone else was involved with it though.”

“Sorry, I kind of forgot in the excitement of making a staff. Mister Flamel here actually made the stone. He offered to mentor me if I found a way to use it. Which I gather is pretty rare as there aren’t many uses for such a stone.”

“There really aren’t. Four or five at most. All of which I will be pleased to teach you.”

“Before we agree to that, I think we should hear exactly what this mentoring involves.” John injected before they could get on the details train and completely lose him. “With that in mind, please come in. Let’s have some tea and work this out.”

It took a few minutes to inform Jean and Hermione about their visitor and get tea ready. Nicholas simply sat at the table waiting patiently for everyone to settle. Harry went to his room to grab his staff, as Flamel had requested to see it. Once everyone was seated the conversation got back on track.

“This is fine work Harry.” Flamel said running a finger over the carvings on the staff. “And these were done without magic. Very impressive.”

“Thank you sir.” Harry said perking up, no matter how often it occurred he found that he always enjoyed any praise he got.

“You’re welcome Harry.” Flamel said, chuckling softly.

“Indeed it is, after watching him carve on it for four days it should be. He really worked hard on it.” Jean pointed out, smiling proudly at Harry. Harry felt his cheeks warm as she continued. “I assume that this mentoring thing will involve more of that?”

“A bit yes, though it will focus more on the magical aspects. While I can teach you a bit about the crafting of things by hand, and can tell you that it is rewarding. Most of the work I do is still with magic. Though I’m sure we’ll end up covering many topics regardless.”

“That’s good, and how often would you be here? Or would Harry need to come to your place?”

“I can come here for most lessons, though there are a few things that would be best to do at home. Some of my equipment is rather heavy, you are of course welcome to join us.”

The offer to be involved or at least present seemed to calm Jean a bit. “Thank you for that Mister Flamel. I’m sure we’ll look in from time to time, but we wouldn’t want to be a distraction. Which I’m sure we would be, neither my husband nor myself are very good at not asking questions.” She smiled broadly as she spoke, making it clear that she was partially joking. “And I take it this wouldn’t be an everyday thing?”

“No, not everyday. Much as I might enjoy that, I have a few draws on my time. I think twice a week would be enough, perhaps a third evening once or twice for special circumstances such as endeavors which have to be completed within a certain time limit. After you’ve returned to Hogwarts we’ll have to work out something different of course. Owls are obviously an option, though not nearly as effective as face to face instruction.”

“Well we can work that out a little closer to September.” Harry said. “Right now though. What days are good for you? I can work around whatever.”

“Hmm, we have a few things planned for the rest of the summer. But it’s mostly time with the Weasley’s and the Lovegoods. I think Mr. Lovegood has another camping trip planned though, that could be a problem.” John spoke into the momentary silence. “I hope that won’t be a problem Mr. Flamel, I know Xeno is looking forward to that trip.”

“Nicholas please, and it shouldn’t be a problem. If nothing else I can plan some outdoor lessons for that time. Depending on where they will be I can always aparate to them on the appropriate days. Speaking of, how does Monday and Thursday sound to you?”

“Fine with me.” Replied Harry.

“That’s sounds good.” John added.

“Perfect.” Jean exclaimed.

Everyone spoke at once, except Hermione who was being unusually quiet.

“Excellent, well as we have that worked out. Would you like to join us for some entertainment Nicholas? We were about to watch the Meaning of Life.” Jean invited.

“Oh my, perhaps next time. I do have a wife waiting for me. She gets ever so worried when I don’t come home on time. I expect I’ll be sleeping on the floor tonight.” He giggled a little as he spoke, smiling broadly.

A few minutes later goodbyes were said, Nicholas was bustled out the door, and the family was seated in the living room once more.

“Hermione dear, are you feeling alright?” Jean asked before they started the film. “You were awfully quiet while Mr. Flamel was here.”

“I’m fine mum. I just didn’t want to interrupt. I had so many questions and I didn’t want to blurt them out, so I was biting my tongue.”

“Oh sweety, you didn’t need to do that. I’m sure no one would have minded answering your questions. Don’t you two agree?” She gave the men a pointed look.

“Ask away Hermione. I won’t promise that I’ll know the answer, but I promise I’ll answer what I can.” Harry answered while John nodded.

Hermione went pink, and looked like she was trying to hold in all the questions of the year at once. She lost the fight and exploded with questions. Harry tried his best to answer as many as he could, and John and Jean jumped in with a few answers and a couple of questions of their own. The movie was swiftly forgotten in the flood of conversation.

“Hey John, I’m having a spot of trouble.” Harry said a few days later, walking into the family room holding the book on celtic customs Hermione had bought him. “There’s a word here I don’t know. And I couldn’t find it in the dictionary.”

“What’s the word?”

“Skyclad.”

“Hmm, I don’t know that one either.” John replied looking at where Harry was pointing in the book. “Yeah, no, I got nothing. Let’s ask Jean, she might know it.”

Jean was in the kitchen making dinner. John asked as they entered. “Hey hon, do you know what skyclad means? Neither Harry nor I recognize it, and Harry couldn’t find it in the dictionary.”

Jean turned to smirk at them. “And why do you want to know?” She asked.

“It’s in the book as part of one of the rituals.” Harry said holding up the book in question.

Jean brought a hand to her lips in a failed attempt to cover a laugh. “Well dear, that would refer to performing a ritual while naked.”

Harry bypassed pink and went completely red. He was sure that even his toes had blushed. “Oh, umm, okay, I think I’ll leave those alone then. Thanks.” He said and fled the room.

John and Jean clutched at each other as they started laughing.

“Now Harry, there are many methods and means that an alchemist can use to acquire the materials needed for our work. The simplest of course is to buy them, while the most difficult is to find and collect them in nature. We’ll cover that later, perhaps on that camping trip with the Lovegoods. For now let’s discuss how we would go about getting the money needed to buy what we need. What would be your first guess?”

“Well, there are stories of alchemists turning various metals into gold. But I don’t know if those are true or not. Although I know we could transfigure something into gold then use the permanence potion to make the change permanent. Which would have the same effect.”

“Yes indeed Harry that is correct. Though it is not the only method. And there is an important rule about using it. Never try to sell gold made like that in the magical world. Transfigured items carry an aura that is easily recognised with the use of several spells, many of which are used in magical shops. And the goblins can tell at a glance. Muggles however have never been able to tell the difference. So you can make a bunch of gold like that and sell it to muggles to make money. There are a variety of other methods, and of course gold is not the only material that you could sell. I have here a list of options, and the methods to follow to achieve them. Your homework for our next meeting is to study these options, select one and have at least a thousand pounds worth of saleable merchandise ready. Our next lesson will include an outing to sell what you have made.”

“Okay.” Harry was a little worried about this assignment. However, he was also determined to do well, so started thinking about what kinds of things he could make.

The lessons with Flamel often went like that. Nicholas would ask a question, then expand upon whatever answer Harry had for it. Harry found these lessons highly informative, but less fun than the other kind, where they would perform some manner of experiment, combining magics to get new effects. That was the first thing Nicholas had explained. Alchemy is not itself a branch of magic, rather it is a combination of all branches of magic, as any effect to be obtained is reached through the application of two or more of the basic schools of magic.

There were, he explained two types of magical study. The lesser schools which concern themselves with only one school, Charms, Transfiguration, Potions, and Divination. And the greater, or advanced schools which concern themselves with two or more branches of magical study. Enchanting, warding, magical music, curse and ward breaking, rituals, and of course alchemy.

Fortunately the permanence potion was easy enough to make, taking only eight hours to complete. The hard part was that it couldn’t be left during its brewing cycle, as it required ingredients to be added in particular order at regular intervals, with specific stirring instructions to be followed in between ingredients. Which made for a long, grueling day. But, looking over the small pile of plastic jewelry he’d picked up at the kids store then transfigured into the real thing, he decided it was well worth the effort.

Nicholas was pleased with the showing and took Harry on a field trip to learn about how to sell such creations. They met with a man who dealt in jewelry and haggled over the prices for almost an hour before they finally settled on an agreement and money changed hands. Suddenly Harry wasn’t so worried about how he would pay for the language crystals, he would share this process with Arthur, and even if he decided not to use it himself, he would at least understand that the cost wasn’t too much for Harry to bear.

Back at home, Harry finally decided to broach a topic that had been bubbling in the back of his head.

“Nicholas, I’ve been wondering about something. I have a memory that I want to share with John and Jean. But I don’t know if they can use a pensieve, being muggles. Do you know if it’s safe for them?”

“Hmm, I think so, I’ve never seen a muggle use a pensieve, but I have heard of it. However it could also be dependent on which model of pensieve you’re using. There have been small changes made to almost every new one made since their invention.”

“Damn, would it be difficult to make one then? And to make it specifically safe?”

“It is a difficult bit of magic, lots of requirements. Several spells, some rune work, and a few potions involved. And there’s no guarantee that it could be made safe for muggle use. Hmm..”

As Nicholas trailed off in thought Harry pondered the idea himself. He really wanted to be able to share some things with the Grangers, and maybe even the Weasley’s and Mr. Lovegood. He wasn’t sure at first, but the past few weeks had convinced him that they would listen, and probably understand. But if he couldn’t make it safe for them. And then a thought bubbled up to the surface of his mind. A crazy, simple thought, looking up at Nicholas he realized that a wild, almost manic smile was stretching across his face. “Nicholas, what if we made a pensieve that projected the memory onto a wall, like a film at the theater?”

“Hmm, yes that would certainly make it safe for anyone to view. It would take some work though, and some research, I’m not sure how that would work, as I’ve never done anything of the kind. Well, I think this calls for a shopping trip. We’ll need some books.”

And thus began the summer project that took up the majority of their time together. Many long hours were spent looking up how projection cameras worked, and brainstorming ideas on how to transfer that to the concept of the pensieve. They had to study how pensieve’s work in order to recreate the idea and then take it apart to determine where in the process they had to reroute the energy in order to get it to project. By the end, Harry was almost sick of building and rebuilding models of their concepts, but just before his birthday they finally had a working projection pensieve.

Within a week of returning to Britain the plans for spending time with the others became clear. The Weasley’s had returned from Egypt, and the Lovegoods had finished their trip to France. Mr. Weasley had won the daily prophets grand prize galleon draw and used the money to take the entire family to visit Bill. Mr. Lovegood had arranged for he and Luna to spend two weeks searching for the crumple horned snorkack.

With everyone back in Britain the adults were planning weekly get-togethers for the teens. They even alternated arrangements. One week the Grangers would take them out to the movies, or the roller rink, once a theme park, and even a paintball arena. The Weasley’s meanwhile would arrange trips to small professional quidditch matches, mostly the Chudley Cannons. And once to a dueling tournament, where they ran into professor Flitwick who was excited to see them and especially Harry. Whom he rushed off to introduce to some of the duelers and judges, and try to get arrangements made for Harry to join the circuit next year. As that would require permission from his guardians Harry collected all the paperwork for the Grangers to look over.  
Finally Mr. Lovegood took them out to the magical tourist sites, famous castles, Stonehenge, and even a few suspected historical sites, places that it was thought certain special events had taken place. Such as the grove where it was believed that Merlin grew up. Or the lonely hill where legend said the final battle between the founders of Hogwarts and the dark lord of their day who called himself Calimdore, and who had claimed to be the rightful king of Britain by right of heritage, had taken place.

Everyone had different favorites of course. The twins began thinking of a way to create a magical version of the roller skates. Ron fell in love with the chess tournaments he dragged everyone to, although that could be because he won often, and several of them had cash prizes. Percy couldn’t get enough of the magical tourist sites, which unsurprisingly were also Hermione’s favorites. They went on and on about the historical value, and the wealth of knowledge that could be gained by studying them. Luna prefered the suspected sites, and would invent stories at each one to go with what was thought to have happened there. Harry couldn’t decide between paintball and movies. Both were fun, just for different reasons. Movies gave him ideas, while paintball was just fun, he even began thinking about ways to create a magical version. Ginny seemed to like everything, as long as she was allowed to be close to Harry. Although it took her half the summer before she was able to speak if he was anywhere nearby. Several times she tripped over her own feet, stuck her arm in plates of food, and once even ran into a wall because she was too busy watching Harry to look where she was going. All of which made Harry blush, or laugh, or get really uncomfortable. He wasn’t sure what to make of Ginny, she seemed alright when she wasn’t being all weird. But when she started acting like a lovestruck fangirl he mostly wanted to be anywhere other than near her.

And then there was Harry’s least favorite day of the week. Every Monday he had to see a therapist, as ordered by the court. At first it felt like he was being punished for what had been done to him. But as the weeks passed and he began to understand what he was gaining from the experience, he realized that it wasn’t at all a punishment. Rather it was a bit like visiting Madam Pomfrey when his arm was broken. It was a way to heal the scars that didn’t show, a way to help him see that the Dursley’s were truly the exception, not the rule, of how adults acted. And most importantly, that the actions of others were in no way his fault.

And along with the healing of his mind, there was another healing that was almost better. The twins brought him the cream that would remove the scars from his skin. At first they were the only ones he would allow to apply it. He would have done it himself, except he couldn’t reach many of those scars. Eventually though he relaxed enough to allow John and even Jean to help. And once he allowed them in, it was only a small step to let Hermione and Luna help, and then Arthur and Molly.

What with all that going on, it wasn’t until their Hogwarts letters had shown up that Harry remembered that he needed to talk with the goblins of gringotts. However that was overshadowed briefly by an extra piece of parchment in his letter. Third years it seemed were permitted, with a parent or guardians permission, to visit the village of Hogsmeade at certain weekends. There was a permission form included in the packet.

Hermione had gotten one as well, and together they rushed to beg permission from the adult Grangers. After a quick explanation they agreed and the forms were signed and Hedwig agreed to carry them back to Hogwarts.

As it turned out, the twins had a similar need to visit gringotts and were going to diagon alley on the same day as the Grangers. In the interest of saving time they agreed to make an appointment together. So it was that a few days before Harry’s birthday the three family’s met in front of the Leaky Cauldron.


	31. Chapter 31

The families split at gringotts. Xeno, and Molly went down to their vaults then went off with Ron, Ginny, Luna, and Percy. John and Jean exchanged some pounds for galleons and left with Hermione. Harry and the twins meanwhile waited for an available goblin to lead them down to their meeting.

Harry was pleased to see that Carnock had been chosen to lead them down to whichever meeting room they were using. “Greetings Carnock,” he called as the green skinned being approached, “how fares your battle this day?”

“Ah young Potter. The fight does me well. And you? Have you been dueling with these two scallywags?” Carnock replied shooting a wicked looking grin at the twins.

“Perhaps later, we have a fight with your boss first. Allow me to introduce two of my best friends, Fred and George Weasley.”

“Well met Misters Weasley, strong allies your family are known as. True and loyal. A fine choice in friends young Potter. So a fight with my boss aye? That will be something to see, I’m glad I got the detail. Well, no sense in putting it off, this way.” Carnock turned and strode off towards the door that lead to the lower levels, leaving Harry and the twins to hurry along behind him.

The trip through the tunnels was much the same as Harry remembered from his first time in this part of the bank in the summer before his first year at Hogwarts. He had met with an annoying goblin by the name of Garnoc, who had explained how the bank works, and what had happened to his family vaults. Briefly he wondered if that was who they would be meeting with today.

They were indeed led into the same office Harry had been to before. The only change was a new head on the wall, this one of a tiger. Once more Harry was in the process of examining the various heads when the door opened again and Garnoc walked in.

“Always the early appointments.” The goblin grumbled as he walked through the door and tossed a briefcase onto the desk. Seating himself he turned to the intruders in his office. “Well, sit.” He motioned to the seats across the desk. “What do you want this early in the morning?”

The twins shared a look then turned to Harry. Harry smirked and motioned to them. “Yours is probably the easier one. You go first.”

Nodding they turned back to the goblin, then stopped and looked at each other again and nodded. A moment later Fred began speaking.

“Good morning master goblin, we have something we need some help with. You see we came into possession of a large supply of basilisk parts recently. We would like to sell them, but we don’t know where to do that to get the best price. We were hoping you would be able, and willing to help.”

Garnoc simply stared at the twins for a moment allowing the silence to draw out. When he finally responded his voice had taken on a menacing quality that had the twins shrinking in their seats. “When you say a large supply, what exactly do you mean? And how recently? And more importantly, how fresh are these parts?”

An audible gulp could be heard echoing through the room before Fred responded. “Well,” and Harry had to hold in a laugh at the squeak in his voice, “umm, we got them about a month ago, directly after we killed the thing. We’ve had them in stasis charms since then. As for how large a supply, the thing was about sixty feet long. We want to keep some of it of course, but we doubt we could use all of it, and of course some of it we don’t have a use for.”

“Sixty feet you say.” Garnoc leaned back in his chair stroking his chin. “Gringotts will be interested in purchasing the meat, and as much of the venom as you are willing to part with. Anything else we can tell you who would give the best price. For a fee of course.”

Carnock coughed behind them and it sounded suspiciously like “haggle.”

Garnoc glared at him, to which he responded with a toothy grin.

The twins smiled. “Well, let’s start with the meat then. How much are you offering?”

“Hmm, well. Standard price is five galleons a pound.”

“Ah but this is really rare, thousand year old basilisk meat. No chance of finding such again any time soon. That seems really quite low for such an almost unique find. I think twelve galleons a pound would be more appropriate, don’t you?”

Garnoc’s mouth widened in a predatory grin. “I’ll agree that it is unlikely we’ll ever see such a thing again. However as we are the only known beings who are both able to use it, and willing to pay, I think you’ll find that seven galleons a pound is more than fair.”

Fred’s grin almost matched the goblins in it’s ferocity. “Well, it’s true that you’re the only known beings that can eat it, other than say, dragons. But then we could send it to our brother who works with dragons. I understand they use it as a means to lure the young ones into new nests. With that in mind, how about we agree to ten galleons a pound. And we’ll throw in ten ounces of venom at no extra. Which by the way is all the venom we are willing to part with.”

The goblin was now scowling, apparently trying to come up with another argument to justify lowering the price again. It seemed he was unable to do so though as a moment later he agreed. A bit of paperwork and arrangements were made to transfer the goods and coins. Then Garnoc turned to Harry. “Well young Potter, it would seem that it is your turn. What can gringotts do for you?”

Reaching into his pack Harry pulled out a necklace. It was silver, and encrusted with gemstones, and even a new muggle-born could tell that it was of goblin make. As he lay it on the desk both goblins in the room tried and failed to hide greedy expressions. “I have a few of these, which I would like to return to the goblin nation. For a small consideration of course.”

Garnoc blinked at him. “You wish to return…” He trailed off in thought. “This is above my station, I will have to call for someone in a position to handle such matters. Wait here.” Before any reply was made he was out the door.

Carnock let out a low whistle. “That is an impressive piece young Potter. Whoever Garnoc finds is going to ask where you got it. And they will know that it did not come from the Potter holdings. I hope you have a good story to tell.”

“Well it technically came from an amateur curse breaking job. There’s this room in Hogwarts where everything the students or staff have every thrown away ends up. I found it in there, along with a few others, while looking for cursed items for practice.”

Nodding, Carnock smiled. “That’s a good story. Theft comes in many forms young Potter. And while no goblin would ever accept being stolen from, we are perfectly okay with wizards stealing from each other. And that is one of the forms that even wizards accept as legal. When they ask, tell them.”

“Thank you Carnock.” Harry gave the goblin a half bow from where he sat. “Do you know how long he’ll be?”

“Hard to say, it depends on who he’s looking for, and where they are. Why do you ask?”

“My butt’s getting numb, and I was wondering if I had time to get up and walk around a bit.”

Three voices roared with laughter, Carnock showing all his teeth said. “Get up and move young Potter. No one will mind.” And so Harry did just that.

It took almost half an hour for Garnoc to return with a new goblin. This goblin was dressed differently to those Harry had seen before. He had seen the guards, festooned with weapons, and the bankers in formal looking robes. This goblin however was dressed in animal skins, and gold brooches. He had an axe strung across his back, and sword at his hip. A strap falling from his right shoulder to his left hip held a dozen daggers. And most impressive of all, on his head sat what could only be a crown, made of intertwined gold and silver, it was encrusted with rubies, sapphires, emeralds, diamonds, and other gems which Harry didn’t recognize.

As the two entered Carnock went down on one knee. “King Ragnoc.” He said. “An honor it is to guard you.”

Not sure what the appropriate reaction was to meeting the king of the goblins, Harry turned from where he had been admiring the tiger’s head and bowed. He opened his mouth to say he knew not what, but closed it realizing that he really didn’t know what to say.

The twins were on the other side of the room trying to look inconsequential.

Ragnoc looked to each of the people in the room and nodded slowly. Then he motioned to the desk. “Perhaps we should sit and discuss why we are here. Time is gold as they say, and I’m sure we all have things to get to.”

Harry and the twins returned to their seats trying not to look like they were rushing.

Ragnoc had picked up the necklace while the humans were seating themselves. He held it reverently as though it were a holy relic, which for all Harry knew it could be. “This was made by master Flem, six hundred years ago. On the open market it would be very nearly priceless. And you offer to return it to us?” He asked.

“Yes sir, I do. I have a few such items, and I would like to return them to their rightful owners, for a small consideration.”

Ragnoc’s eyebrow rose. “You wish to sell to us what is already ours?”

“Not sell. Rather I would like to be compensated for the work of recovering these items.”

“Ah, a reward then. Hmm, and how did you acquire these items?”

“There is, in Hogwarts, a room in which everything any student or staff chooses to be rid of gets taken. This room is full of mostly junk, and cursed items. I searched it for those cursed items so that I could practice removing curses. Along with all the rubbish, and the few cursed items, I found several items of goblin make. These things are unclaimed by anyone, thus I determined to return them to their rightful owners. I ask only that the effort which went into the finding and returning be rewarded.”

A smile crept across the face of the king of goblins. “Well said. It is proper to thank one who does such a deed for others. What manner of reward did you seek?”

“I was thinking something like ten percent of the market value would be fair.”

There was a sudden choking sound from behind them, and Garnoc actually fell out of his chair. Ragnoc smiled broadly, showing a lot of very sharp teeth. “Most would ask for half of the value, or more. We would normally offer twenty percent. You show honor to ask for so little.” The king nodded slowly as though he were coming to a decision. “There were three families in the last wizards war that left their vaults to whoever defeated the dark lord who called himself Voldemort. Those wishes were never met, as we registered that he hadn’t died. However the wording gives us some room to interpret. We will grant you ten percent of the market value of any goblin made item that you return to us. Furthermore, in recognition of your honor and the crimes that were perpetrated against your family, which we were unable to prevent or mitigate, we will grant you those vaults. Carnock, you will show them to vaults 813, 612, and 1203, when we are done here. Now young Potter, what other items do you have for us?”

Harry and the twins both reached into their packs and began pulling out items.

A lot of paperwork and pleased goblin sounds later, they were headed down to the new vaults. Several thousand galleons richer.

“So, high security vaults, eh Harry. How does it feel to have access to a vault that could hold you prisoner if you try to open it?” George asked as they were leaving the bank.

“It feels like I have a lot of work to do. I’ll need to bring all of it together eventually. And figure out what I’m going to do with all the stuff in there. Honestly I’m thinking I might start with identifying any goblin made items. Not sure after that.”

“Yeah, wish we’d gotten a vault or two, but then we can’t all be the defeater of dark lords. Can we?”

“Oh shut up.” Harry punched the older boy in the arm.

“Ah, my arm. Save me George.” George cried mock tears and hid behind his brother.

“Sorry Fred, he’s bigger than me.” Fred replied to his brother trying to push him out to the front.

Laughing, Harry led the way down the alley to get their school supplies.

On the way home Harry got to have fun introducing Loki to Hermione’s new cat, Crookshanks. Apparently Ron needed a tonic for his rat Scabbers, and while they were in the store the large bushy furred ginger cat had traumatized the youngest Weasley male by jumping on him, and Hermione had quickly fallen in love with the fluffball.

Loki was inspecting the small tiger, who in turn was inspecting the tiny dragon. For a moment Harry thought that the two would attack one another, but then they curled around each other and duel purrs could be heard through the car as they fell asleep.


	32. Chapter 32

For Harry’s birthday everyone gathered at the Burrow for the day. Even Bill and Charlie had come to visit for the occasion. Molly had gone overboard on food. There were large plates of shepherd's pie, bowls of steamed and roasted vegetables, three enormous pots of mashed potatoes, four roasted chickens, and a huge multi-layered cake, with sides of ice cream.

Arthur made a point of drawing Harry off to one side and telling him that the twins had shared the money they got from the basilisk and goblin items, though they hadn’t told their mother precisely where it had come from. And the entire family was in minor celebration at the influx.

After presents, which included a book on the Chudley Cannons, from Ron, and a promise to take him on a field trip the next day from Bill, were opened and admired, Harry invited everyone to a special film viewing.

It took only a few minutes to get everyone seated around the newly completed projection pensieve.

“So, this wants a bit of an introduction. To begin with, this” here he paused to point at the pensieve, “is a new artifact that Nicholas and I invented together.” Here he had to pause again as the twins had begun cheering loudly. “Yes, thank you. We call it a projection pensieve. It works much the same as a traditional pensieve, except that instead of entering it to view a memory, it projects the memory onto the wall so it can be viewed from a comfortable seat.” Again he had to pause for cheering, this time from all the adults as well as the twins. “We actually invented this for this occasion, so I could show you all these memories. It took some thinking to decide which ones to share. There are some things happening that I think you need to be aware of, especially now that you’re all part of my life. If you have any questions after, just ask.” He reached over and tapped his wand on the activation rune and the projector lit up. All eyes turned to the wall where a view of Harry, smaller and thinner was walking across the great hall at Hogwarts.

It really had been a chore to decide which memories to show, Harry thought as the night Quirrel had taken himself and the twins to get the stone played on the wall for the family to view. In the end he had chosen the entire encounter rather than just what happened in the mirror room, as it gave everyone the chance to get used to the novelty before the really important stuff happened. Also it gave the twins some of the attention. Next would be the discovery of Filch’s cat and the words on the wall, with Malfoy’s statement included. Then it would move to the discussion where they figured out that the creature was a basilisk, and how to find the entrance to the chamber. That was followed by Luna revealing where the entrance was and how to open it. Then telling the teachers what they had learned and done, then the meeting after the next attack where they got detention. Next was going into the chamber, and the encounter with Tom, and Malfoy.

He hoped nobody would freak out too much. Of course he realized that “too much” was a relative measurement. Molly nearly screamed when she realized that two of her sons were under the imperius curse and pulled them into long hugs, apparently to assure herself that they were there and safe.

This played out again, though in slightly smaller scale when they entered the chamber, and he actually had to pause the memory when the basilisk came into view. It took a couple of minutes to explain that they were safe and get Molly calmed down before they could continue.

When all the memories were finished there was a general hubbub of simultaneously asked questions and Harry held up his hands. “Slow down, slow down. I can’t understand anyone when everyone talks at the same time. Mrs. Weasley, you can go first.”

“What were you thinking, going into that place by yourselves?” She screeched.

“Simply put,” he replied slowly and quietly, “we had already gone to the teachers once, and rather than deal with the problem they ignored it, and gave us detention for trying to help. So we dealt with it ourselves, after we spent a month ensuring that we would be in as little danger as possible.” Mrs. Weasley looked like she was going to scream some more, so Harry decided to cut her off by moving on to another question. “Mr. Weasley, your turn.”

Arthur looked at his wife who was turning an interesting shade of red, but shook himself and asked, “How did you make yourselves stick to the ceiling?”

Harry turned to the twins. Fred smiled and answered. “We’ll be best at that one dad.” He indicated his twin. “Harry found a potion recipe that would allow us to walk on walls, but it was damaged. It took most of the year for us to figure out what was missing and recreate it, but we managed. That was why we took a month getting ready. It takes that long to brew.”

Harry nodded at the twins. “Thank you again Gred, Feorge. That stuff kept us safe. Who’s next, Hermione.” Hermione had raised her hand as though she were in class. Which set most of the group into chuckles as they noticed, which caused Hermione to turn a light pink.

“Umm, I was wondering what made you decide to show all of that.” She said as the chuckles faded.

“That is a really important question Hermione. I came to two conclusions that I want to share and hear your opinions on. The first is that in the last two years Voldemort,” he paused for the gasps most of the group made, “has made at least two attempts to get a new body for himself. Obviously he isn’t dead, but without a body I guess he can’t do much. I doubt he’ll just give up at this point. So I expect he’ll keep trying, and I don’t think we’ll be so lucky as to have him always try in some way that we can easily stop. Sooner or later he’ll find a way that works.” At this point he had to stop again, as nearly everyone had either screamed or started babbling. Holding up his hands again he yelled. “Stop.” It took a moment to get everyone’s attention before he continued. “I know that’s scary, but we won’t achieve anything by panicking. Besides, there’s still another conclusion to mention.” Once everyone had settled back down and returned to their seats, as some of them had jumped up, he finished. “Thank you, the second conclusion I came to is that Dumbledore either wanted us to deal with these situations, or has gotten too old to make good decisions anymore. He should have known better than to place the stone in Hogwarts, but he did. And when we told him how to stop the basilisk he didn’t do anything, he just left it for us to handle. When I asked professor Flitwick about why the teachers hadn’t done anything, he told me that after they had failed to open the Chamber, Dumbledore had instructed the staff to leave it be. So I wanted to hear your thoughts on those ideas.”

The jumble of sound that followed was headache inducing. Harry could barely understand those sitting next to him, let alone anyone more than two seats away. Rather than try to listen he sat back and tried to relax, waiting for everyone to calm down enough to talk in voices that could be heard and understood by everyone.

Eventually the loud and varied conversations petered out enough for Harry to make himself heard and he stood up to get everyone’s attention. “So, I don’t know about anyone else, but I couldn’t hear anything over all that. So can I ask for opinions one at a time?”

Several people looked sheepish, and a few even lowered their heads. It was Arthur who spoke up first. “Well, I don’t know what to think about Albus, but I agree that you know who will probably keep trying. Though I’m not sure what to do with that information.”

“Yes, and it certainly isn’t something that you children should have to deal with.” Molly leaped to add.

Jean smiled at Molly. “I agree completely, unfortunately it appears that the bad guys don’t care.” She waved at the pensieve as though to indicate the memories they had just watched. “So I think the first thing we should do is make sure that the kids are prepared to get themselves out of those situations as quickly as possible. They have shown that they are willing to take the problem to the adults, so perhaps we should include a meeting with the professors to work out a more effective means of ensuring that they won’t have to tackle these kinds of problems on their own again.”

“That seems like a good idea, although in the interest of waiting for more input about Dumbledore I will recommend sticking to discussing this with Minerva and Filius. That way if Harry is right we don’t give the headmaster more than he needs to know, and if not we can fill him in later.” Xeno’s quiet voice floated over from where he sat.

Bill spoke into the silence that followed Xeno. “Well I don’t know about Dumbledore, but I’d really like to get a look at that diary. I have a suspicion, but I’d need to get a closer look to be sure. Do you still have it Harry?” 

“No sorry Bill. I gave it to professor Flitwick. He might still have it though.”

The group fell quiet after that, everyone looking around waiting for the next person to speak. Eventually John broke the silence. “Well I think that’s all we’re getting for tonight Harry. Do you mind if we come back to this later after everyone’s had a chance to think it over for themselves?”

Trying to smile Harry caught John’s eye hoping to convey how important a concern this was for him. “Yeah, that would be okay. I didn’t really expect everyone to agree, or even to make up their minds tonight.” He turned his half smile to everyone else and they all nodded slowly.

Wind whispered through the leaves overhead, somewhere off to his right a bird sang for its mate. To the left some distance he could hear a soft sibilant voice whispering about water. A light fog filled the space, obscuring his view beyond a few feet.

A smile danced across is lips, this was the last time he would do this in this way. Soon he would be practicing a new method. He had this one last time to feel it like this, he wanted to grab every detail and store it forever. 

He glanced around taking in the bright green leaves, the shocking pink blossoms of the flowers, even the scent of the rain on the breeze. His green eyes sparkled with joy as he lifted the small vial to his lips. His arm halfway up he halted, something had changed. A rock slipped nearby, a heavy foot trod on the stones.

Peering into the fog, hoping he hadn’t been noticed by some well meaning muggle, Harry waited. There between a pair of trees, an enormous black something. Was it a bear? It moved closer, snuffling the ground. A dog, a huge black dog, its fur matted with dirt and grime. It shuffled forward and Harry considered downing the potion to give himself a means of escape. But there was something, something familiar about the dog. It shuffled closer, it wasn’t just matted, it was thin as though it hadn’t had a proper meal in ages. Harry’s stomach stung with sympathy, he certainly knew what it was to go hungry. Prior to Hogwarts he had often gone hungry.

Smiling he reached into his pocket and pulled out a strip of beef jerky and offered it to the great shaggy mutt. Shuffling forward, a wet nose tickled Harry’s hand as the dog sniffed at the meat. With a jerk the meat was pulled from his hand and the dog sat and chewed, a bit noisily.

Chuckling Harry held out his hand for inspection. After finishing the meager meal the dog cocked its head at him before sniffing at him. A moment later Harry was on the ground being slobbered to death by an overly friendly pooch.

Shoving at the head of the beast Harry laughed. “Get off, there’s more if you let me up.” He cried, realizing it would do nothing as dogs don’t speak english, and he only spoke parseltongue, not whatever you call dog language. To his mild surprise however the dog gave him one more wet doggy kiss and backed away. Sitting on its haunches it seemed to eye him. “Well, you’re an odd one huh? Well, wait there, it’s in my pack.” 

The dog did sit there and wait as Harry walked over to where he had left his pack. Rummaging around he pulled out the roast pork he had stored in the stasis box from his tent for emergencies. Returning he laid it in front of the dog who seemed to be trying to reign in his enthusiasm. “Go on, it’s all yours.” Harry reassured the dog. As the great furry head lowered and began to eat Harry reached over to scratch his ears. The dog didn’t seem to notice, engrossed as it was in devouring the pork as quickly as it could. “You must be really hungry. I know what that’s like. I used to be really hungry a lot. But then I got a visit from a friendly giant. Hagrid is really great. He told me I’m a wizard, and took me to diagon alley. Then I went to Hogwarts. It’s a great place, and I made friends, great friends who helped me get away from my aunt and uncle. In a few weeks we’ll be headed back there. I’d offer to take you with me, but they only allow two pets, and I already have two. Still I can bring you some more food if you like. If we get you cleaned up you might even be able to convince the Weasley’s to take you in.”

That seemed to get the dogs attention, although it could just have been that he had finished his meal. The great head swung around to look at him and a slow whimper came out as it snuffled at his neck. “Like that idea huh? Well, first step is to get you cleaned up. Hmm, how to do that.”  
Harry sat back rubbing his chin as he thought about the problem.

Standing he moved towards his pack. “Yes, that will work.” He said as he picked up the bag. A moment later he was setting up his tent and inviting the dog inside. The pooch seemed fascinated by the tent and tried to inspect everything as Harry was leading him to the washroom. “Here we are, get in there.” He pushed the fuzzy beast into the bath and got the water running.

Amazingly the dog was very well behaved, mostly just sitting in the bath allowing Harry to wash him. Though it did randomly lay a paw on his head and push him into the water a couple of times. And it seemed to be giving him a doggy laugh when it did, as though it knew it was being obnoxious. Shaking his head Harry finished the cleaning and cast a drying charm over the dog and himself, not wanting the shaggy critter to splatter him by drying itself in the normal doggy way. Just in time too, as the dog did indeed start shaking itself just as the charm hit it. The dog almost seemed to pout at him when it realized it was dry. “You are an odd pooch you know that.” He said as he led the dog back out of the tent. “Really, it’s almost like you understand. I guess you must have been someone’s pet. I wonder if anyone’s looking for you.” The dog whimpered a little and Harry scratched his ears. “Well, I’ll keep an eye out. Hopefully if someone is looking for you we’ll find out quickly. If not I’ll take you over to the Weasley’s later. Right now though, I need to finish what I came out here for. So I need you to sit here for a while.” He led the dog over by a tree and coaxed it into sitting. “I’m gonna change in a moment, try not to be scared okay.”

Bringing the vial back out of a pocket he chugged it swiftly. The dog watched curiously. A moment later the dog jumped and barked as Harry shrank down into his badger form. The dog snuffled at him and seemed to almost whoop as it bounded around him barking happily.

Ignoring the dog’s glee was difficult, however this being the last dose of the potion Harry had work to do. He needed to finish cataloging all the changes in his form so that his mental image was as perfect as it could be. Next month he would begin the effort to make the change on his own, and he wanted to be sure he had everything right.

Eventually the dog settled down and lay on its paws to watch him.

When at last he returned to his human form Harry scratched the dogs ears and offered it another small meal, this time shredded chicken, which he parsed onto two plates and shared.

However as he rose to head back home, beginning to contemplate how he would go about getting the dog to the Weasley’s the question was rendered irrelevant. The dog barked, nuzzled his hand and bound off into the woods. It was gone before Harry finished yelling for it to stay. “Well, I guess he knows what he wants. Maybe he knows where his owner is and went back home.” With that hopeful thought in mind he turned towards home.

A few days later Bill showed up for the promised field trip. Apparently he had found a fairly easy curse breaking job that he could take Harry on to give him a real idea of what the work was like. Harry had to work hard to contain his excitement. Along with the promised trip this would also be his first experience with side along apparition. He had of course read about apparition in his book on magical travel, but he had not yet gotten to actually do it.

Bill arrived at the Granger home promptly at 11:00 a.m. and exchanged a few words with Jean before they got underway.

Apparition Harry decided was the worst form of travel he had ever experienced. It felt like being turned inside out then sucked through a straw, and finally put back together on the other end. It took a minute for Harry to catch his breath when they landed, and he almost lost his breakfast.

“Yeah, sorry about that. It’s a little rough the first time. You get used to it eventually, and it always seemed a bit easier to me when I was in control, versus side along. You okay?”

“I think so, just trying to catch my breath.” Harry was bent over, hands on his knees, taking deep long breaths. Standing up he flashed a weak smile. “Yeah, I’m okay. That just took a bite out of me. Should be fine in a few minutes. Let’s get moving, distraction will probably help.”

“Fair enough, this way then. We’ve got about a half mile hike. Needed to be far enough outside of town that no one would notice us popping in.”

“Gotta love that secrecy law.”

“Yeah, it keeps us safe though. So no use complaining.”

“So how did you find out about this place?” Harry asked as they began to walk.

“There was a family of magicals that lived here a few decades ago. But they all died, back in the forties. It’s been on a list of sites to check for a while now. But it’s such a low priority that no one has bothered to look into it. The family was even less well off than us Weasley’s. Not likely we’ll find anything, but will give you an idea of what to expect in the curse-breaking business.”

They fell quiet as they walked, and it became a comfortable rhythm. Harry was just getting into the swing of the long walk when they reached the edge of town. It was a small rustic village with old style homes clustered together, and a main square where most of the shops sat. Bill indicated the little tea shop as they got closer. “That’s where we want to go. I did some research after your birthday. This was the home of the Riddle family until about fifty years ago. I was thinking we could find out some more information about Tom. And in a place like this, the best information to be had is gossip. And the best place to get the gossip.” He pointed to a group of older women seated around a table and chatting amiably. Harry gulped. “This is the easy part of the job Harry, relax. I promise it only hurts a little.” Bill let loose a short belly laugh as Harry turned pale. Slapping a hand across the younger boys shoulder he led them into the shop.

A few hours later they were on their way again, bellies full of biscuits and tea, and heads full of information. At first it was mortifying to Harry to approach a group of older women and try to start a conversation. Fortunately Bill had taken over and explained that they were exploring the countryside and investigating old ghost stories, and other interests. It didn’t take much to get the women talking.

Bill plied them with tea and kept the conversation humming along, while Harry pulled out a notebook and wrote down details as fast as he could. When they finally left the shop he had learned all about the affairs of the last three town mayors, who in town was currently dating, and even for some reason that the farmer on the south end of town was courting an older lady from London. None of which mattered to them at all.

What did matter to them was that they had learned about the Riddles. They were a wealthy family who had once owned the big house just outside of town on the north end, towards greater Hangleton. The last generation of Riddles had a son named Tom who had run off with the daughter of the town tramp. Meriope Gaunt, they described her as overly plain, but when they found an old photograph of her in one of their albums Harry thought something far less complementary. Why the rich son of the town squire would run off with her was a mystery, to everyone in town too.

Then a little over a year later Tom returned claiming that she had lied to him, and that he was shot of her. It was assumed that she had claimed to be pregnant and when he learned that she wasn’t he left her. Or perhaps, as she never returned that he might actually have killed her.

A few years later, however, came the most mysterious of the events surrounding the Riddles. One morning the cook went to get breakfast started. And rather than finding the Riddles in their beds, as one would expect at such an early hour, they were still seated around the dining room table. The women fell into near whispers at this point in the story, explaining that each of the Riddles had been found with looks of fear on their faces, and that while they were all dead, no sign of how they died had ever been found. Of course they said returning to more normal voices, everyone knew that it was the gardener Frank Brice who had done it. But as the police were unable to find enough proof he got away with it.

Armed with this new information Bill and Harry set out to get a look at the Riddle house and the Gaunt shack, both of which they had directions to, and somewhat surprisingly they were less than a mile apart on opposite sides of the town graveyard.

“So which first Harry?” Bill asked as they strolled towards the graveyard.

“Well, it sounds like we’ll get more info at the house than we can from the shack. But if the shack is as small as it sounds we can probably finish with it in no time. Hmm, I guess the shack first would probably be the best way to go.”

“Alright, shack it is.”

Shack, Harry decided, was the right word. The building was small, perhaps twenty feet on a side. The wood was rotting, the roof fallen in several places. The porch was giving out and didn’t look as though it would support the weight of a stuffed bear let alone a person.

As they approached Bill pulled out his wand and looked around surreptitiously. “Alright, keep an eye out, but try to watch what I’m doing. I’m going to cast several detection spells, to see if there are any wards left up.” Harry tried to pay close attention, wondering if Bill would cast any spells he didn’t already know, while still watching for any approaching muggles.

A few minutes of wand waving and incantations later Bill frowned. “Hmm, the only one I can detect is a muggle repelling ward. Which means it should be safe for you to try if you want.” He smiled down at the younger boy.

Harry’s eyes lit up at the chance to try something sort of new-ish. “Okay, keep an eye out. And let me know if I get any of these wrong.” Bill chuckled and nodded.

Harry turned and raised his own wand. Thoughts of hours spent in the Hogwarts lost and found room rushed through his head as he prepared to cast the detection spells he had practised there. A few minutes later he was shaking his head. I only found one which I guess is the muggle repelling you mentioned. I haven’t felt those before, so I’m not sure. Guess I should try those on my tent. Did you notice anything wrong with my casting?”

“Surprisingly, no you cast all of those perfectly. I take it you’ve been practising.”

“Yeah, I spend most of my free time at school in spell practise.”

“Nice, better than I did. I spent most of my free time on a broom, or flirting with girls. Well, shall we?” He motioned to the shack.

They crossed the porch with extreme caution, Harry thought it would fall in with every step. When Bill tried the door it simply fell in with a soft crash. The walls were slowly rotting, and while they looked like a stiff breeze would knock them over, when Harry reached out to steady himself he found them spongy. “Ewww.” He said shaking his hand to get the almost slimy feeling off. “This is really nasty.”

“Agreed, let’s check for any cursed items and get out of here. I don’t think there’s anything for us to learn here anyway.”

Two wands raised and began casting detection spells again, this time looking for the energy of curse magic. Both wands swung to point at a spot on the floor.

“Hmm, that’s surprising, and really strong. Definitely don’t touch. Here use this to pry up the boards.” Bill said pulling a pry bar out of his pack and offering it to Harry. “Whatever is under there, leave it where it is. I’ll levitate it into the safe box.” He held up what looked like a matchbox. Seeing the look of confusion on Harry’s face he added. “It’s a shrinking box. We use them to contain cursed items until we can get them to a warded room to work on. It’s not always safe to try to remove the curse where we find them. Go on, get it open.”

Ignoring the shaking in his hands Harry knelt over the floor wiggling the bar in between two boards. With a heave the floor lifted, revealing a flaw in the plan. With the rotting of the wood, rather than breaking the boards warped and twisted. Leaning on the bar made little difference and eventually he looked over at Bill who was scratching his head. “What about a cutting charm on each side?” He asked pointing to a spot about a foot from where the cursed object lay. “That should allow the boards to move.”

“Normally I’d say no, but with that amount of rot in the wood. I think that might actually be the only way. Yeah, go ahead, but a little further out. Say about three feet on each side.”

“Okay, here goes.” Harry lifted his wand and pointed off to one side of the spot. “Diffindo.” A long cut appeared in the wood. Pointing to the other side he again cast “Diffindo.” And again a long cut appeared in the wood. This time the boards came out easily with the application of the bar.  
Underneath the floor sat an innocent looking box, just big enough to hold a ring.

Before Harry could react to the box, it was rising in the air and floating towards Bill. He held out the safe box and the innocent looking thing floated into it. Once the box was closed and back in a pocket Bill wiped his brow. “Okay, now that’s done. One last check, just to be sure. Then we’ll head over the hill to the Riddle house.”

Once more both wands came up and a moment later went back into pockets. Or rather Harry’s went into a pocket, Bill’s he noticed went into a sort of sheathe on his arm.

The walk over the hill was filled with questions about wand holsters.

The Riddle house was huge. Three stories tall and at least sixty feet on a side. The porch wrapped around two sides of the house, and the garden around three. There was even a second smaller house on the grounds which turned out to be where the gardener lived, as he trundled out to meet them when they got close to the house.

As the man got close, Bill moved a little behind Harry and drew his wand. “Confundus.” He whispered directing the spell at the man before he stepped forward hand out. “Good afternoon sir. You must be Frank Brice, I understand you’re the caretaker.”

The man looked a bit fuzzled for a moment before he smiled brightly and shook Bills hand. “Yes, that’s right. Apologies, I forget..” He trailed off.

“No worries. I’m Bill, this is Harry. We’re here to look at the house.” He said motioning to Harry and then the house. “Are you available to give us a tour, and maybe share some stories about the place? Or should we just show ourselves around?” He said with a broad smile.

Frank scratched his head for a moment then motioned to his leg. “Well, as much as I'd enjoy showing such polite young folk around. I’m afraid that my leg disapproves of stairs these days. Go ahead and poke around, the doors aren’t locked. Just be careful not to break anything.” He waved them on and turned back towards his own house.

The search of the Riddle house was far less exciting than the shack, though it took much longer. The most curious thing about the place was that it was partly set up to be a magical household. There was a potions lab in the basement, and the library contained several magical volumes. Even the kitchen had a magical stove.

“I think this place was purchased by a magical after the Riddles died.” Bill said as they wandered through the place.

“Probably Tom, after he killed them.” Harry replied.

“Most likely, it shouldn’t be too hard to check the records and be sure. I wonder if those are the only books he kept here or if he has a hidden room somewhere. It’s pretty easy to set up with magic.”

“If he does, I’d expect it to be in the basement.” Harry said, pointing at the floor. “It would remind him of the Chamber.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right. Let’s check.”

The basement held no secrets they could find until Harry remembered how the Chamber was opened. “Hold on, he might have copied the Chambers hiding method. Give me a second.” Concentrating on the image of a snake in his mind he hissed out “Open.”

For a moment it seemed that nothing would happen, then a section of wall slid to one side.  
“Ha.” Harry cried. “Got you.”

“Hold up Harry.” Bill said throwing an arm in front of the emerald eyed boy. “Let’s check for traps before we rush in.”

“Oh right, am I good here?”

“Not sure, let me check.” Bill lifted his wand and cast the same spells he had at the shack. “No muggle repelling wards here, so best not to cast anything unless you really need to Harry. Give me a second, I’ll check for anything else.” A little more wand waving and he was motioning Harry forward. “Seems safe, I don’t detect anything.”

The doorway led to a small room with a safe, a bookshelf, and a writing desk. The shelf held several books with titles like Magick most Evil, and The Uses of Blood in Sorcery. Bill waved his wand over them and frowned. You’d expect him to protect these, but I can’t find anything. Surely he didn’t expect a password to be enough, even if the password was from a language hardly anyone speaks.”

“Umm, if the Chamber door hides from the usual detection spells, could he find a way to hide the book’s protections in the same way?” Harry asked.

“It’s possible, but I don’t…” he trailed off for a second. “Can you cast spells in parseltongue?”

“Uh, I’ve never tried, do you think I should?”

Bill looked around as though he was checking to see if anyone else had joined them while they were talking. “With me here you should be okay, and if anything happens I’ll vouch for you. Go ahead and try.”

“Okay, umm.” Again he called up the image of a snake in his head and concentrated. Saying the incantations for his detection spells in parseltongue turned out to be far more difficult than anything else he had ever tried, but it worked. There was a ward over the bookshelves that he didn’t recognize which showed up under his spells. When he described it, Bill said it sounded like a blood ward. One which would only allow someone of blood relation to the creator of the ward to touch anything on the shelf.

“Well crap. Now what?”

“Now we leave it be.” Bill replied. “I can’t detect it, and so I couldn’t be sure if the methods I’m familiar with would remove the ward, and there really isn’t enough time to teach you to do it. So we pull back for now. I’ll give you some books on how to deal with these kinds of wards, and you can practice at Hogwarts. At Christmas, if you feel ready, we can come back.”

Harry stared at him, emerald eyes glowing, for almost a full minute before he shook off the stubborn desire to just go ahead and try now. “Okay, you’re the professional. Let’s do that.”

Bill smiled and clapped a hand to Harry’s shoulder. “Good, now close that door back up so no one else stumbles on this. And let’s get out of here. It’s kind of creepy down here.”

A hissed “close” and the wall was whole again. A moment later a sharp crack sounded through the now empty house.


	33. Chapter 33

“Harry-kins!” Cried the twins on their next meeting. It was paintball today, but they had a half hour until time to leave, and the twins had indicated that they wanted to chat with Harry before they left.

Carefully ensconced in Harry’s room they pulled a pair of boots out of Fred’s bag. “So Harry, check this out.” They said handing over the boots.

Harry took them and felt a small jolt of magic from the soles. Looking closely, he could see a faint shimmer around the bottom and sides of the boots.

“Okay, what am I looking at?” He asked looking back up at the eager faces watching him.

“Flying skates.” The two said in unison. 

“We tried a couple different methods to make roller skates.” Fred said.

George picked up from there. “But nothing worked. Anti-friction charms, floating charms, sure we could get them to hover above the floor, or slide along it. But we couldn’t get them to move like the roller skates.”

Fred took over again. “Then we thought of the wall walking potion. And we wondered if we could do something similar. At first we thought about reworking the formula, but decided we needed to do some comparison. So we made a new batch, but we made a mistake.”

Once more the train of thought switched tracks as George took over. “We applied the potion to the boots we had tried the floating and anti-friction charms on. And suddenly we had a pair of boots that would float a few inches above the floor, and slide along smoothly, just like the roller skates. Well, not just like them, but pretty close. And, bonus, they even fly up the wall. You need a surface to work off of, they won’t just fly out into the sky, but..” He trailed off.

“So, these are them I take it.” Harry said lifting the boots in his hand.

Fred answered. “Well, sort of. The charms wore off after a few hours, and we couldn’t get them to resettle on the boots with the potion already affecting them.”

George took over from there. “We did some research and it seems that certain effects have to be applied in certain orders, and potions applied to objects cause existing spell effects to wear down faster than normal.”

Fred jumped back in. “So we need to anchor the spell effects in a way that won’t allow them to break down, and then apply the potion effect preferably in a way that won’t break down quickly either.”

George laid a hand on Fred’s arm. “That’s where you come in Harry. You know more about that sort of magic than we do. We have an idea of how to do it, but you’ve already done it, with other magics obviously. But the idea is the same.”

As usual they ended in unison. “So will you help us Harry?” They said with pleading eyes.

Harry struggled to hold in a laugh. “Yes guys, of course I’ll help. There’s a lot going on in the next couple weeks though. I may not be able to finish it until after we’re back at Hogwarts.”

“That’s okay.” Fred said.

George followed. “We’ll need to pick up boots for everyone though. For when it’s ready.”

“Good, I’ll leave that part to you two menaces, and I’ll get to work on figuring out how to anchor those spells for you.” The twins shot him a mock glare before tackling him in a hug.

Back from paintball, John invited Harry to join him in his study. “Harry, there’s something I want to talk to you about.” He started. “Where to begin,” he wondered aloud. “I guess you already gave me that.” He smiled at Harry who was starting to worry. “Tom is trying to come back. And he led what amounted to an army, against the magical people of Britain. On a crusade to wipe out people like Hermione.” Harry nodded, he wanted to say something, but couldn’t think of what to say. “And you asked for our opinions on that.” That at least Harry could respond to, though he kept his response to a nod. As much as he had grown to trust and respect the man seated across from him, he didn’t know what the man thought, and he was worried about what he might say next.

“So, Jean and I have spoken at length on the matter. We went back and forth several times before deciding on a course. I’m going to ask you to listen carefully. I want to walk you through some of our thinking, and I’ll share our final decision at the end. So try not to freak out on me.” At Harry’s slow nod he continued. “So, first we thought that the best choice would be to run. Leave Britain entirely. There are a few problems with that idea. We don’t have any established credibility anywhere else, so we’d have to start at the bottom again. The Weasley’s and the Lovegoods, we don’t think would leave, and we’d prefer not to separate you and Hermione from your friends. And we don’t know how magical schools in other countries work, or if you could transfer to them at all. So leaving is a last option, if everything else fails. So then we thought about pulling you both out of Hogwarts, hiring private tutors, and basically going into hiding from the magical community. Again there are all sorts of problems with that idea. There really aren’t many private tutors, and most of the ones we were able to find out about only work with purebloods. They tried to phrase it nicely, but it was pretty clear that a lot of the available tutors are prejudiced against those in a situation like yours or Hermione’s. Plus we’d have to coordinate with the Weasley’s and Lovegoods, and we aren’t sure if they would agree. And there’s no guarantee that anyone we hire wouldn’t share your whereabouts with someone on the wrong side. So that’s a bad idea all around. That really just leaves staying put and working to make the best of things. So, that’s what we’re going to do. In that direction we’d like for you to do a couple things to help if you can. First, make some more friends. Specifically try to connect with all the other muggle-born at Hogwarts, share those memories with them. Let them know what’s happening so they can make informed choices. Those who are willing to help, bring them in. We’ll be doing the same out here. Don’t stop at the muggle-born though, look for anyone who would be willing to help. He has an army, we’ll need our own. Second, find a way to protect the house, and yourselves. We will do everything we can to protect you all, but we can’t do magic. So we need a way to slow them down if they come here, to give us a chance to get away. That’s what we’ve thought of so far. Do you have any questions? Or thoughts?”

It took Harry a moment to find his voice again. “Umm, wow, that’s, wow. Yeah, I was thinking it might be a good idea to have a place we can go if things get bad. A place no one knows about where we can move a bunch of people in a hurry. Do you think you can find a place like that?”

“That’s a really good idea Harry. Yes we can look. I’m not sure what we’ll find, but we’ll look. Anything else?”

“Yeah, one other thing. Can you recommend some good movies to take with us to Hogwarts? I’ve got a bunch for laughs, but I was thinking it might be good to have a few that demonstrate strategy and stuff. Do you know any like that?”

“Hmm, not off hand. I’m more familiar with action and comedy. But we can probably find a few. We’ll make a trip to the video store tomorrow and see what we can find.”

Feeling a little choked up at the support Harry just nodded.

“Well then, let’s go join the ladies before they decide to deny us dinner.”

Planning and preparations filled the next few days, but Harry couldn’t contain his excitement as the last event of the summer approached. Mr. Lovegood was taking him and Luna to southern France. They would be camping for a week, spending most days searching for the elusive crumple horned snorkack. Although he had promised a visit to a couple of the magical sites there as well.

The initial trip was managed by portkey, yet another method of magical travel which Harry had read about but not experienced. It was decidedly better than apparition in his opinion, but still not great. He was beginning to think that there must be a better way that just hadn’t been found yet. Though he was forced to shelve the idea in the immediate moment of setting up camp and getting ready to begin their search for the famous snorkack.

Camping with the Lovegoods was an experience. Xeno started each day with an odd drink which he claimed was very healthy, but that Harry thought tasted like old socks. Though after the second morning Luna joined him in his morning tai chi, which was pretty cool he thought. After breakfast they would set out to hike around the surrounding countryside in search of any sign of their prey. Luna would wax long and poetic about the snorkack, or one of the other fantastic creatures the Quibbler often wrote about. Xeno would point out interesting features of the landscape or sometimes discuss the various holy days that he and Luna observed. Often with leading questions about whether Harry would be joining them for any of the traditional rituals. To which Harry asked if they did any of them skyclad. Xeno explained that it was only the spring and summer rituals which were done skyclad, then rolled with laughter as Harry turned a shade of red that made the Weasley hair look pale.

The magical sites they visited were immensely interesting, if a bit plain. They visited the French version of diagon alley, le rue de magic. Which was fun, even if it was just a shopping alley. And the Louvre, which had a magical section, hidden from muggles of course. Full of magical portraits that spoke of various times in the history of magical France.

Then came their last night. They hadn’t found the snorkack, but that didn’t seem to bother either of the Lovegoods. Indeed they were in high spirits over dinner, discussing where they would look next. After dinner Luna said something about monthly exercise and went into her tent, while Xeno engaged Harry in a discussion of classes.

When at last Xeno ran out of questions the two made their way to their tents. Harry walked into his tent and stopped. There was a bear sitting in the front room of the tent. Bears were uncommon in this part of the world, but there were a few around, and they were one of the few creatures he had been warned about. Bears were large, omnivorous, and easily provoked by someone who didn’t know how to act around them. And Harry had no clue how to act around them. Moving slowly he backed out of the tent, thinking to ask Xeno for help. The man went searching for strange creatures in all manner of environments, maybe he knew how to deal with a bear sitting in one’s tent. But as the tent flap opened and he was silhouetted against the dying fire he caught the bears attention.

“Ruoar.” A long drawn out sound issued from the throat of the enormous creature and it seemed to wave at him. Hoping it didn’t decide to chase Harry turned and bolted out of the tent. Three long strides took him into the Lovegoods tent where Xeno was just lowering the lamps in the front room.

“Harry, what’s wrong?” The older man asked, nearly dropping the lantern he was holding.

“There’s a bear. In the front room of my tent. I, I don’t know what to do.”

To Harry’s supreme confusion, and mild indignation, the man did drop the lantern and fell to the floor laughing like a mad man. He rolled, holding his belly, roaring with laughter.

“Umm, I’m not sure if that qualifies as funny sir.”

SItting up, still holding his sides, Xeno managed to cough out. “It’s Luna, she wanted to surprise you.”

It was a good thing nothing had been flying around in the Lovegood tent. If there had been it would most likely have landed in Harry’s open mouth which was practically flapping in the breeze from Xeno’s laughter.

“Go on Harry. Go say hello. I imagine she got a good laugh too.” Xeno waved towards the door.  
Feeling a bit sheepish Harry turned and trudged back to his tent.

There was indeed a laughing bear in his front room. After lighting a nearby lamp he was able to recognize Luna’s animal form and shook his head. “Luna, you scared the crap out of me. I thought you were a wild bear. Why didn’t you tell me you were taking the potion tonight?”

The panda’s mouth hung open in it’s version of a smile, and one paw came up to wave him closer. When he moved within reach she tackled him in a hug.

Coughing through a mouthful of fur Harry struggled to roll over. “Luna, you’re really heavy like this, I can’t breathe when you do that.” Her only response was to squeeze the breath out of him. “Ah, now I know what they mean by a bear hug. Careful Luna, I think you might of cracked a rib with that one.” The grip on him loosened slightly but she didn’t let him go.

A thought struck and he wondered if it would work. Luna was normally very ticklish, if that was still true in her panda form he might be able to get her to let go. Reaching around the large form that was currently wrapped around him he tried tickling her ribs. When that didn’t work, he moved to what on a human would be the crook of her elbow. That didn’t work either, his next thought was try behind her knees that usually worked, but from his current position he couldn’t reach, so he went for her ears instead. That didn’t have quite the effect he wanted. She did break out in loud grunting panda laughs, but rather than let go she hugged him tighter and seemed to be trying to tickle him back. Which with her claws proved to be rather painful.

“Ow, ow, ow. Luna stop that hurts.” He cried, and she sat back. Looking him over she hung her head, looking sad. Not wanting to hurt her feelings Harry moved up and stroked her fur. “It’s ok, we’re still learning. You didn’t hurt me too bad, see.” He showed her where her claws had only grazed him. “Just a scratch, no real damage.” He reached up to tickle her ear again hoping to convey that he didn’t mind. Another panda laugh followed by a long lick of his face told him that he got his message across. Of course it also left his face covered in panda slobber.

“I’d join you, but I’m not due to begin the self transformation exercises until after we get back to Hogwarts.” Harry said after a few more minutes of playing with the panda. I suppose I could do some meditation on my form though if you want to spend some time on that.” The panda made a motion as though to say go on, so Harry settled down to meditate for a while, filling his head with thoughts of moving in his badger form. He only just noticed when Luna settled behind him wrapping her limbs about him to do likewise.

Some time later he felt her form begin to ripple signalling the end of the potions effect. Turning he reached to hug his friend as she returned to her usual form. Small arms wrapped around his shoulders as he did so and in a moment Luna was snuggled in his arms pinning him down by the simple expedient of sitting in his lap. Something felt off to Harry, but he wasn’t sure what it was. And with Luna snuggled in his lap, warm and happy, he was distracted. Especially with her head on his shoulder, her breath tickling his neck.

Some minutes later he pointed out that they had an early morning and should get to bed. She made an unhappy sound but slowly rose to her feet and offered him a hand up. Unfortunately with her rising he finally realised what had been off before. Luna was completely naked. Not a single stitch covered her, and try as he might he found himself unable to drag his eyes away from the sight. As though she had cast a sticking charm on his eyes they were glued to a little tuft of blonde fuzz that crowned the spot where her thighs met. He heard her giggling and tried to look up but again his eyes refused to move.

“You know, you’re supposed to stare at these.” She said and finally he was able to look away from the tiny slit that formed and disappeared between her legs. Only to be caught short when he looked up to see her pointing at her own nipples. Two little pink nubs resting atop her barely formed breasts. To his horror, he felt his mouth falling open, and his head starting to lean forward, as though his body intended to, he didn’t know. She giggled again, ruffled his hair and ran out of the tent.

He would never be able to say how long he sat there, mouth agape, brain scrambled, only one thought running through his head. She was naked, and sitting on me. Sometime later he managed to stand and move mechanically to his bed. Sleep never came, every time he closed his eyes he saw her again, standing naked in front of him.

The morning didn’t help in the least. After they had finished packing and were getting ready to touch the portkey, Luna leaned over, kissed his cheek and spoke. “Harry, when you find where Loki hid my underwear could you bring it by the house please?”

Harry turned a stunned look on her smiling one, and tried to hold in the gibbering monster in his head that just kept repeating, she was naked, over and over. “Umm, uhh, yeah, yeah, uh, okay.”

More giggling was her only response as she picked up the portkey and held it out to him.

Life hates me, Harry thought to himself as he reached out to lay a finger on the plastic heart. A moment later Xeno joined them and they were whirling back to Britain.

When Xeno hugged him goodbye he whispered in Harry’s ear. “Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it. I did, and we wouldn’t want you just staring if you were to join us for one of the rites.” When he leaned back Harry saw he was smiling mischievously.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Muah-ha-ha-ha I broke Harry with a naked Luna. I love that scene, it took me almost two hours to write. I kept falling out of my chair I was laughing so hard. It's important though, as it is the first step in building towards Harry being comfortable enough with nudity to perform certain rituals later.


	34. Chapter 34

"John, do you have some time to talk?" Harry asked knocking on the door frame of John's study.

John looked up from his paperwork, glanced between it and Harry for a moment and responded. "Yeah sure. This can wait. What's up?" He gestured to the seat Harry used when they talked in here.

"Umm, so, something happened, and I don't know what to…" He trailed off as an image of a naked Luna danced through his head. "Wow, umm, what was I saying. Right, so I guess it started with rituals. I asked Xeno about the skyclad rites from the book." He saw John's eyebrow raise. A sure sign that he was about to ask a question, and pushed on before he could be interrupted. "He said they do them, and that eventually they intend to invite me. I got really embarrassed, and we didn't talk about it again." John was opening his mouth now so Harry held up a hand to indicate that he wasn't done yet. "Then on our last night Luna pranked me. She was in my tent in her panda form. Once I realized it was her we had some fun playing around. She's not very ticklish as a bear. But then we settled down to meditate. When she turned back we hugged for a while until I mentioned that it was late and we had an early start. She stood up and she, she was naked. I just kind of sat there. She giggled and ran out of the tent. In the morning Xeno said that I should get used to it so I don't stare at the rituals." Now John's mouth was just hanging open, Harry pushed on to his question hoping John would be able to help. "So, now I have a, a problem I guess. Every time I close my eyes, and sometimes when I don't, I see her like that, in my head. I tried to get the image to go away but it won't. Is something wrong with me? Can't anything about me be normal?"

The sound of Harry's voice breaking with fear and confusion broke John out of his surprise. "Harry, calm down." He said, laying a hand on the boys shoulder to capture his attention. "First thing, you are perfectly normal. Every young man goes through this. And you're at the age when it usually starts. I would have talked with you about this sooner but I thought perhaps you wouldn't need it until next year. I am a little surprised at Luna though. Most girls wouldn't do something like that, especially at her age. But then Luna isn't most girls is she? Maybe I shouldn't be surprised. I'll have to have a chat with Xeno, make sure of things. Well, let's talk about sex Harry." He smiled hoping this wouldn't be too difficult.

What followed was the single most embarrassing hour of Harry's life. John discussed birth control, the process of gestation, and the troubles of child rearing. Then he went into the mechanics of sex, and Harry began considering stabbing his own eardrums just to avoid further mental scarring. When it was over Harry vowed to acquire a book on the topic to check what John had told him, and avoid a repeat of the experience.

Platform nine and three quarters was as packed and bustling as ever, which of course meant that it took far longer than it needed to for everyone to get on board. Eventually though, they were all seated, trunks in place, goodbyes said, and the train was pulling out of the station.

With the train rumbling along, and the usual hustle of students mumbling through the corridor to their compartments Harry pulled his wand and threw up a privacy charm. “So, has everyone been using their crystals?” Four smiling faces accompanied by a chorus of yes and he continued. Sweet, if we don’t waste too much time, we should be done with them by winter break, or the end of January at the latest.” A new chorus of hear, hear, and yes went around the compartment. Harry smiled, “on a different topic. Have you all thought about what I said at my birthday?”

The mirth that had been filling everyone’s faces slowly drained away as they considered the question. George was the first to respond. “Yeah mate, we thought about it.” He said, bumping Fred’s shoulder. “We’re with you, no matter what.”

“Like the goblin said, Weasleys are strong and loyal. We’re in it to win it.” He smiled and high fived his brother. Harry chuckled.

Hermione mock glared at the three of them. “You know, you could take this seriously. After all Tom has tried to kill Harry three times now.” The chuckling quieted as three now pale faces turned to stare at her. “In answer to your question Harry, yes, of course I will stand with you. And we should really start planning for that, we don’t know when it will be time to start acting, and the better prepared we are, the better we’ll be.” She nodded as though that were all there was to say on the matter.

Luna smiled dreamily around at everyone, and spoke in her usual wafting manner. “Where else would we be but at our friends side Harry. That’s what friends do you know.” Everyone smiled at the little blonde, and Hermione leaned over to wrap one arm around her in a half hug.

“Well that’s good then. Because John and I talked about what we should do. He kind of recommended that I build an army, sort of.”

“What does that mean Harry?” Fred asked slowly.

So Harry told them all about the talk he and John had about the return of Voldemort. When he finished the compartment was quiet, except for the quiet hum of the train, for a long time.

Eventually Hermione found her voice. “So, we should figure out who’s most likely to join us, and get them to, what? I don’t even know. Maybe we can start a study group or something?”

“Movies, games, we can do some of the things we did over the summer, and invite the muggle-born to join us. They would probably enjoy the feeling of home, and it would be a way for them to get to know us. Then we would have more friends.” Luna smiled happily at the ceiling, clearly lost in thoughts of new friends.

“Luna’s right.” Fred cried. “Once we get the magical skates ready we can invite everyone to give them a try. Also, Harry did you bring the movie projector like you planned?” At Harry’s quick nod he continued. “Good, so we can share some movies with them too.”

“And really, who wouldn’t want to join in a plan to get rid of old snake face?” George added.

“Well I would imagine most people would be afraid, I know I am.” Harry said solemnly. “The trick is to convince them that not fighting would be worse than fighting. John gave me some ideas on how to do that, but we can probably stand to work out a more thorough plan.”

“Yes, let’s do that.” Hermione bounced on her seat looking forward to her favorite activities, research and planning. “We should find some books on how to recruit, and run a paramilitary group. I think dad might have a few, but we can always check with the bookstores, I doubt dad has a lot, and we can always find more.”

“Hermione!” Harry cried, wanting to stop her. She stopped and stared at him. “I already ordered several of those, and John leant me his. They are in my trunk. But we should leave that till later, tomorrow will be soon enough. I just wanted to get that said before we got to Hogwarts. We really shouldn’t dwell on it too much. That’s one of the things John mentioned while we were talking. The importance of keeping up morale, and methods of doing so. Which comes down to, having fun. So, in the interest of fun. I have an idea for a prank.” The twins sat up straighter, their faces screaming their feelings about this topic. “I want to do a scene from the Labyrinth, at dinner. I was thinking, dance magic. You know the one where Bowie sings about the babe with the power.”

The twins shared a truly frightening smile as they began babbling between them, so fast that it almost sounded like a single person was talking.

“Ooh, yes, who should be Bowie. You should be Bowie, Harry. We’ll be the goblins at your side. What about the babe, we don’t have a baby. Luna can be the babe. Hermione should be Sarah. Can we get the whole crowd to sing the chorus. Oh that would make it a double prank, the professors would just sit there stunned watching a scene from a muggle film. We should watch it again though so we get the lyrics right. We could use it as the start to a variety of musical pranks. Ooh, how about a day where everyone has to sing anything they want to say? Or something like a musical, where they break out in song at random.”

When they petered out smiling at each other Hermione jumped in. “Okay that all sounds good. Except leave me out of it. I don’t sing.”

“Okay Hermione, no singing parts for you. I like the idea of watching it again though.” Harry placated.

“Did you bring it with you? Is it here? We could watch it now. We have plenty of time. Ooh, we could get Lee? He’d love it.” The twins were still talking so fast that it sounded like one person talking.

“Uhh, well, yeah, yeah. We need to start adding people to our group. Why not start with known friends. Go grab him, and I’ll get things set up.” Harry stumbled through a response.

Hermione bounced again and babled out. “What about Neville? He barely has any friends, and you seemed to get along with him on the train last year.”

“Sure, you wanna go get him?”

“Oh, thinking of that. Should we invite Ron and Ginny too? They are part of the family after all. Which means Percy too.”

“That’s really nice of you Harry.” Hermione beamed at him. “I’ll ask Ron and Ginny, their probably with Neville anyway.” She looked expectantly at the twins.

“Ok, we’ll invite Percy. He might be visiting with Penelope though.”

“If he is, then bring her too.” Hermione said, a bit waspishly. “I like him.”

“You would.” George teased as they headed for the door.

When the others had left the compartment to retrieve friends Luna turned to Harry. He noticed that she wasn’t looking dreamy any more. “Harry, thank you again for returning my underwear. I hope I didn’t make you uncomfortable. I’d like to have you join us for the spring and summer rites this year, and those are done in the nude. It’s important that you not be distracted during the rites, and the easiest way to insure that is to inoculate you to the view. So I decided to show you my unclothed body so you get used to it, and not get distracted when it’s important. Daddy and I have been doing those rites as far back as I can remember. Mummy used to do them with us too, and I thought it would be nice to have a friend join. I’m sorry if it bothered you, and if you want, I won’t bring it up again.” Her head fell at the last sentence and there was a small hitch in her voice.

Thinking back on the last week and the one time he’d seen her since that night Harry realized that he had hardly said anything to her. Mostly due to embarrassment true, but if it had been him in her place he would be freaking out that maybe she didn’t want to be his friend anymore. In a rush he moved to pull her off the seat and into a fierce hug. “I’m sorry Luna, I didn’t mean to worry you. I, I was a little uncomfortable, but mostly I was confused, and a little scared. I, I’ve never seen anyone else naked before, and I kind of freaked out a bit. I needed to process, and it took a while. Can you forgive me for not being prepared for that?”

There was a soft giggle against his chest and Luna pushed herself away enough to look up into his face. “I forgive you Harry. I’m sorry I surprised you like that. I guess I didn’t think that plan through very well. I’ll remember to warn you next time.”

As she sat back down, motioning for him to get the movie ready he gulped. Next time?

Fortunately he was soon distracted by the return of the others and they all filed into the trunk to watch movies.

Unfortunately there was a disturbance halfway through the second fim they chose. There was a sudden chill in the room. Ice was actually forming on the walls, and the bookshelves. As everyone stopped watching the movie and looked around trying to figure out what was happening, there was a creak from the entrance.

Looking around they saw a ragged, skeletal hand reaching through the door to push it open. A tall emaciated figure floating into the trunk, long torn robes hung off the thin form as it moved forward.

In the back of Harry’s mind he could hear a woman screaming, he tried to block it out, he really did. But as the thing came closer to them, he suddenly could think of nothing else. As blackness surrounded him he heard the woman saying, “not Harry, please not Harry.” Then nothing for long moments.

When he woke several people were around him, and Percy was waving a bar of chocolate under his nose. “What,” he started to ask.

Percy interrupted him. “A dementor Harry, eat the chocolate. It will help, I promise.” Not sure what to think, Harry took the chocolate and bit into it. As it melted on his tongue a feeling of warmth spread through him, dispelling the chill he had only barely noticed.

“Why did that thing come in here?” Penelope asked.

“I imagine they were searching the train for Sirius Black. Not that it makes much sense, but that’s the only reason I can think of. Eat as much chocolate as you’ve got everyone. I’ll go see what I can find out, and make sure the trolley lady starts her rounds early. Go ahead and continue the movie though, some laughs should help. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

When they filed off the train at Hogsmeade they ran into Draco Malfoy and his entourage. “There you are Potter. I looked for you on the train. I have a message for you, from my father. He said to tell you that you won’t get away with spreading lies about our family. You’d best watch your back Potter, you’ll get yours soon enough.” Before the slightly stunned group could respond Malfoy had turned and disappeared into the crowd. Looking at each other they all shrugged and moved towards the carriages.

At the carriages Harry went to say hello to the thestrals again, and to his surprise Luna joined him. “Lovely aren’t they?” She said as she reached up to stroke the nose of the nearest.

“You, can see them?” Hermione asked as she walked up next to them.

“Yes.” Luna replied, a sad smile gracing her lips.

“I, umm..”

“Hermione, it’s probably not very nice to ask.” Harry cut her off before she could ask who Luna had seen die.

“Oh, right. Sorry Luna, that was silly of me.”

“It’s okay Hermione. I was there when mummy died.” She half whispered, and was engulfed by Hermione in a tight hug.

“Oh, Luna, I’m so sorry. That must have been horrible.”

A small hand came up and patted Hermione on the back. “It’s okay Hermione, it was a while ago. Though I do sometimes feel sad about it. But I have you, and Harry, and the twins. And soon we’ll have even more friends. It’s not really the same, but it’s still nice.”

The ride up to the castle was quiet after that, but Harry and Hermione sat either side of Luna both with an arm around her. And the twins sat opposite, all of them sharing in the moment of grief, and reassuring Luna that they were there for her. As an added bonus, it also felt good for Harry. They were all there for Luna, just like they had all been there for him. The reassurance that nothing had changed brought a small smile to his lips.

In the entrance hall professor Flitwick pulled Harry aside for a word. “I will be having a word with your roommates as well Harry. You will need to return to your dorm. Yes I know you weren’t sleeping there at the end of last year. I didn’t say anything because I knew why, and there wasn’t much I could do about it at the time. With all that behind us now though, I hope that fences can be mended. If it doesn’t work, we can discuss other options, but try at least.” When Harry nodded quietly he added. “Also are you planning the usual test outs?”

“Umm, maybe. Definitely history, and potions. I’d also like to test out of astronomy. As for defence, I’d like to get a feel for the new teacher before I decide on that.”

“Good choice, the new defence teacher is actually quite good. I taught him myself, when I first started here. I think you will like him. Well, Saturday then. Be in the office at ten and we’ll get those tests done. I need to get back out there and catch your roommates, on your way Harry.”

The sorting took forever as usual, but eventually it was finished and Dumbledore rose to address the students. “I have only two words for you now. Tuck in.”

Food suddenly filled the tables and conversations started up across the hall. Luna turned to Harry as she filled her plate. “I forgot to ask earlier, is Loki here?”

“Somewhere yeah, I think he might be with my trunk. But he could be anywhere. He started doing the blending thing this morning, so he might be off practising.”

“Is he good at it?”

“Not yet, when he managed this morning he only blended about half of his body, the other half turned a rather pleasant shade of lavender. He snorted when he saw it.”

“That sounds cute, I wish I’d been there.”

“Maybe next time. He’ll be with me a lot this year. The bond won’t finish until he starts talking, and the book said that would take close to a year.”

“It is so wonderful to be able to talk to your familiar. Azure says the most interesting things sometimes.”

Together they smiled and tore into their food. Eventually, dinner was finished, pudding was devoured, and the headmaster was standing back up for the real announcements.

“Well, now that we are all fed and watered I have a few start of term announcements. First, the forbidden forest is out of bounds for all students. Quidditch tryouts will be held in the first week, those who wish to tryout for their house teams should see their head of house. We have this year two new teachers I would like to introduce. First as our former care of magical creatures teacher retired last year in order to spend more time with his remaining limbs. I would like for you to give a warm welcome to our new care of magical creatures teacher, our very own Rubeus Hagrid.” Hagrid stood and waved to the hall. The cheering was particularly loud at the Gryffindor table. “Thank you,” he continued when the cheering died down. “Second our new defence against the dark arts teacher, Remus Lupin.” A second man stood up, he had a head of slightly graying brown hair, and a long scar across his cheek. His robes seemed rather shabby, but his name. Flashes of James diary speaking of his friend Remus, and of professor Mcgonagall mentioning a mister Lupin as one of his father’s friends. Was this the same man? 

While Harry was ruminating the headmaster continued. Finally as many of you know, Hogwarts is playing host to some of the dementors of Azkaban. They are here on ministry of magic orders to hunt down the criminal Sirius Black. I must warn you most strenuously. It is imperative that you remain within the castle except for appointed times. It is not in the nature of a dementor to listen to excuses, or begging. They are not swayed by kind words, or bribery. And they can not be fooled by charms, potions, or even invisibility cloaks.” Harry thought that the headmasters eyes flicked towards him as he said that. “So, remain safe, and there is no reason this year can not be as good as any other. Now, it is late and there are classes in the morning. So off to bed with you all.”


	35. Chapter 35

At breakfast Harry and Luna decided to sit with Fred, George, and Hermione, at the Gryffindor table. They got a few odd looks, but after the twins glared at those responsible, the table went back to their food. Ron, Ginny, and Neville however moved over to join them.

Conversation was light as they munched through several plates of breakfast between them. This turned out to be a really good idea however as time tables were being handed out as they loaded up their plates for a third time. Mcgonagall descended on them with a well tuned eye, and seeing no signs of any mischief handed out time tables.

The twins had to rush out as they had potions first thing. Ginny followed them when she got hers, saying something about charms. Ron had History first, but not for another hour.

Hermione looked over her schedule carefully and smiled over at Harry. “Thank you again Harry for talking me out of taking everything. I might actually have gone a little crazy if my schedule was more full than it is. 

Ron looked over her shoulder and blanched. “Blimey Hermione, how can you stand to take that many classes?”

“Well Ron, some of us have room in our heads for more than quidditch and chess.” Hermione responded snootily.

“Oh wow, I don’t usually get to see Hermione do snooty. We should have Ron hang out with us again.” Harry said.

“I agree, it’s funny when Hermione attempts to mimic Malfoy.” Added Luna.

They were prevented from going further on the topic by the arrival of Flitwick with Harry and Luna’s schedules. Hermione slid over to look over their shoulders.

Luna smiled and said she had charms with Ginny. She quickly exchanged hugs with Harry and Hermione and rushed off to class.

Hermione cheered as she ran her practised eye over the schedule in Harry’s hand. “We have defence together. Harry did you notice?”

“Did I notice what Hermione?”

“The new professor, his name.”

“Oh, yeah. I pulled out my photo album last night to check. I think it is him. I have an idea for how to be sure though. If he is my dad’s old friend, then he’ll enjoy a quick prank. And I have a good one in mind.”

“Oh Harry, you shouldn’t prank a teacher, you could get in a lot of trouble.”

“Maybe, but if I’m right, it’ll just be fun. And even if he does take points or even give me detention, it’ll be worth it to be sure.”

“Oh Harry,” Hermione couldn’t seem to think of anything else to say, so she wrapped Harry in a one armed hug. “Well, I need to get going, I have arithmancy this morning.”

“That’s weird, I have it tomorrow. Instead I have runes this morning. I thought they mixed the houses for those.”

“Maybe they had too many people take it, and had to break us up to fit everyone in?” Hermione said in a slightly uncertain voice.

“Sounds like the most likely explanation to me.” Harry replied. “Regardless, you need to get going. I’m off to get some reading done. Got a test to prep for.”

“Right, see you later then.”

“Do you ever not read?” Ron asked into the silence Hermione left behind her.

“Rarely, if I can avoid it. I like reading, it’s interesting to learn new things, and often you can find answers to any problems you have in books.”

Ron looked sceptical but shook it off. “So, umm, I was wondering. Percy said that you don’t have to attend history or potions. Is that true, and can you tell me how you did it?”

“Well, that’s sort of half true. I found a loophole in the rules. If you can prove to your head of house that you learn better outside of the classroom environment they can let you out of having to attend the class. Flitwick gives me the end of year exams, if I can pass them, I don’t have to bother with the class time. Mcgonagall may do the same, or she may do something different. Either way you would have to talk to her about it.”

“Oh, could, could you help me?” Ron said with an ashen face.

“I can try, but you’ll have to do the study. I read through six different history books in my first year to pass the test, and three more second year. I can give you the list, they are all in the library. But you have to do the work, I’m happy to point you where you need to look, and answer questions, the test is up to you.” Harry smiled at his surrogate brother.

Ron’s face fell, but he lifted himself up and got a determined look. “I’ll do it. Where should I start?”

“Start with the main text book. Once you’ve finished that I’ll give you a few more titles. When you feel you’re ready, then talk to Mcgonagall. Remember to ask Hermione if you come across anything you don’t understand. You’ll see her more often than you do me. Though go ahead and ask me too if you want. We’ll probably explain things in different ways, so you might understand one of us better than the other.”

“Okay, thanks Harry. I should get going then. I guess I have some reading to do.”

“You’re welcome Ron, good luck.”

Harry’s first class of the year was transfiguration, which they had with the Hufflepuffs this year. Mcgonagall started them off with a lecture on the theory of switching spells, which they would begin practising in their next class. Harry had read about those last year, but hadn’t actually bothered to try it yet, so he was paying close attention for a change.

Potions was the same as before. Snape bemoaned the fact that Harry was back again, and took the opportunity to take as many points as he could. Harry was well pleased to be shot of him, assuming he could pass the test Flitwick would give him at the end of the week, he wouldn’t have to put up with the man again for another year. And maybe not even then.

Charms was much the same as last year. Flitwick started them with some wand practise to get back in the swish of things. At least they did actually start on weather charms. Learning how to heat and cool a room was fun, and Harry could think of a few fun things to do with it, along with making camping more comfortable.

Arithmancy was almost exactly what Harry had expected. Maths, lots of maths. Though he did get a great laugh when he realized that a little over half of the class, all of the purebloods specifically along with most of the half-bloods, barely knew basic arithmetic. The class began with an explanation of basic addition and subtraction. The few half-bloods who had attended primary, along with the muggle-born were bored out of their minds. Harry actually flipped forward in the book and began working on some of the more difficult problems, until professor Vector started talking about how to solve complicated arithmetic problems with magic.

Runes was the most boring thing Harry had ever done. He had discussed the class with professor Babbling last year, and read several books on the subject. It had seemed really interesting at the time, not to mention very useful. However between his reading last year, and his work with Nicholas over the summer he had already learned the three most commonly used rune sets, and was learning two more. And that was the entire point of the class. When he spoke with the professor after class he learned that the next three years would be devoted solely to learning the rune sets, and actually using them for magical purposes wouldn’t be covered until after O.W.L.’s. 

On his way to his next class it occurred to him that if he waited to deal with the problem, he would essentially be wasting the next two years. At which point he made a note to ask about taking the O.W.L. at the end of the year.

Astronomy was more of the same, noting the position of the planets, and a little about their features. Harry was hard pressed not to fall asleep.

But by far, and surprisingly, the best class of the year was defence. Professor Lupin had a knack for making the class both fun and informative. Although, Harry helped a good deal in their first class.

When they first entered the classroom the professor was absent. So they quickly took their seats. Hermione and Harry taking the front most table. Terry Boot leaned over from where he was sitting and asked loudly. “Potter, why are you even here? I thought you would just skip, or are you not dropping the class this year?”

“Well, mostly because I haven’t gotten permission to drop the class yet. But also because I want to get an idea of what kind of teacher we have this year. You never know, we might actually have gotten a good one, for a change.”

The door at the back of the room opened and Professor Lupin walked in, cutting off whatever reply had been coming. “Good morning class. You won’t need your books today. This will be a practical lesson. We will be going to the staff lounge, so up we get.” He said calmly.

Before anyone could get moving though Harry raised his hand.

“Yes Harry, you have a question?”

When he heard his name from the professor Harry became sure that this was his father’s friend, and he had to fight to keep a grin off his face. Just a moment or two he thought. “Umm, yes professor. I wanted to ask if I heard your name correctly at the welcome feast. Are you Remus Lupin?”

“Yes, that’s right. Remus John Lupin to be precise. Why do you ask Harry?”

Before Lupin had finished speaking Harry was moving. He charged at the man crying at the top of his lungs. “Unca Mooey!!” He hit the man hard and wrapped him in the tightest hug he could manage. But as he did so he realized there was a small problem with his prank. He was tearing up, the realization of a real link to his parents, someone who could actually tell him about them had swept his emotional control away completely. On the other hand, it seemed that the professor had no clue how to react. Beyond returning the hug.

The rest of the class simply stood there as a second turned into a minute before the two parted and Harry wiped his eyes. “Sorry professor, that was meant to be a prank on you. But I guess it was more of a prank on me.” He said sheepishly.

Reaching down to wipe a tear from Harry’s cheek the older man said. “It was a fine idea Harry.” And the entire class was amazed to hear the raw emotion in his voice. “You used to call me that, before. How did you know?”

“I guessed. I figured if I was like most babies I wouldn’t be able to pronounce your name properly, and since Sirius was my godfather, dad would likely call you my uncle.”

Lupin leaned back and let out a great roar of laughter, and a moment later the whole class joined him. “Well that is remarkably good thinking Harry.” He said through his chuckles. “We always said Lilly should have been a Ravenclaw, you must take after her a lot.” He smiled broadly as the chuckles finally finished. “We’ll have to get together soon Harry, I’d love to get to know you better, and maybe I’ll help you plan a better prank.” He winked. “But, right now, I think we should go ahead and have the lesson I was planning for today. What do you think?”

“Umm, yeah, that would be a good idea I think.” He agreed, sounding sheepish again. He was doing that a lot around this man, maybe he should be more careful.

At the staff lounge the class ran into Snape who was finishing a cup of coffee. “A moment Lupin, I would prefer not to witness this.” The tall, hook nosed man rose from the table he was seated at and waved his wand to vanish the remains of his coffee. On his way out the door, he stopped to glare at Professor Lupin. “I should warn you Lupin, that this class contains Neville Longbottom. I would advise you not to entrust him with anything difficult, he causes mayhem with even the simplest of spells.”

Several of the students around him glared at the greasy haired potions professor. Perhaps this was a common occurrence for Snape to insult Neville. No wonder then, that Neville looked so frightened. Thinking back on his therapy sessions from the summer and the lessons he had learned about confidence, and how to inspire it he reached out to lay a hand on Neville’s shoulder. When the boy turned to look at him in clear curiosity he smiled reassuringly. After a pair of heartbeats the boy nodded and turned back to where the two professors were exchanging words.

Professor Lupin had smiled mildly at Snape and responded to his taunt. “Actually I was hoping Neville would assist me with the first stage of the operation. I am sure he will perform admirably.”

Snape sneered and strode away, looking oddly bat like as his cloak flapped around him. Harry was a bit mesmerized by the image, and briefly wondered if a bat was the man’s animagus form. He had started to notice that he had gained a bit of a waddle to his step, and other less noticeable similarities to his own animal form.

He was drawn out of his musings by the voice of Professor Lupin. “Now class, in this cupboard there is a boggart, mister Filch found it a couple of days ago, and I requested that it be allowed to remain to give my third years some practice. Now, who can tell me what a boggart is?”

Hermione’s hand hit the air long before anyone else even twitched, and Lupin nodded to her. “A boggart is a creature that feeds on fear. A shapeshifter that can take the form of whatever scares us most.”

“Exactly correct, well done. Now as it takes the form of whatever is most frightening to us we have a large advantage already. Have you spotted it Harry?”

Not sure why he was being called on Harry nonetheless knew the answer and responded quickly. “WIth so many of us it won’t know what to turn into. I read an example of one that when faced with two different fears turned itself into an amalgamation of the people’s fears.”

“Yes, perfectly explained. I once witnessed that exact occurrence. The thing couldn’t decide whether to become a headless corpse, or a giant slug. It became half a slug, not remotely frightening. Now the incantation to handle a boggart is ridiculous. Try it without your wands first go ahead.”

The class did all try, and once Lupin was sure everyone had the pronunciation correct he had them practice the wand movement, and finally turned to Neville. “Most wonderful, now Neville, what would you say your greatest fear is?”

“Umm,” the boy looked like his greatest fear might be this class for a moment. “Umm, Professor Snape sir.”

“Hmm, Neville I believe you live with your grandmother, is that right?”

“Yes sir, but I don’t want it to turn into her either.”

“No, no, you misunderstand me Neville. Can you picture your grandmother's clothes?”  
There followed these words an explanation of how to make one’s fears comical, that by itself nearly had Harry rolling on the floor. He wasn’t alone either, there were titters of laughter scattered through the group of students, as they all pictured what Professor Lupin was explaining.

“Now, I want you all to take a moment to think about your worst fear, and consider what you would do to make it funny.” There were a few minutes of silence as everyone did this. Harry contemplated what his worst fear might be. For a moment he considered a fully resurrected Voldemort, but he realized that between the plans he and his friends and family were making, and the understanding he had of how to disappear if he needed to, that Voldemort wasn’t really much of a threat. No the threat was if he lost what freedom he had. The Dursleys were gone, there was no way that he could ever be sent back to them, but they weren’t the only people who would lock him up if they got the chance. No what scared him was the possibility of being locked away again, and then he realized that he was locked away. Sort of, with the dementors patrolling the edges of the grounds Hogwarts itself was a sort of prison. A wide, open prison, but still.

“Everyone ready?” Seeing several nods, Lupin smiled and led Neville to the front. “Right, now stand here Neville and when professor boggart Snape comes out use the spell to force him into your grandmother's clothes. Go on.”

Neville looked scared, but determined, as he raised his wand. Lupin raised his own, and with a bang the wardrobe door flew open. Snape came creeping out of the closet and Neville began to tremble. With a mighty shake Neville seemed to throw off the fear and cried, “Ridiculous.” The boggart Snape was suddenly wearing a set of bright red witches robes, with a vulture topped hat, and clutching a tartan handbag.

The entire class burst out laughing, and Lupin called the next student up to take a turn.

Harry watched in wary anticipation as the boggart took on form after form. Mummy, banshee, severed hand, giant spider, coffin, and so on. His classmates seemed largely to share fairly common fears. For a time he wondered if they would all realize what a freak he was when his turn came. He still hadn’t quite gotten rid of that feeling, it was lodged deep inside himself.

His turn came after almost everyone else had taken theirs. The boggart turned from Ron Weasley and Harry stepped up. There was a pop, and a door Harry knew far better than he had ever wanted stood in front of him. Three locks held the door, and a ghostly image of chains further secured it. Harry wasn’t sure how he would make this funny, but he raised his wand, intent on putting his best effort into it. Before the wand came to the desired position the door shook. Horrified, Harry watched as it grew dark, wisps of tattered black cloak seemed to flow out of it and a skeletally thin, dead looking hand slipped around the edge reaching towards him. He set his jaw and began to speak, but he was knocked out of the way. Professor Lupin took his place and the boggart shivered and changed into a bright silver orb. “Ridiculous,” the professor said with a wave of his wand. The orb turned into a party balloon and shot across the room rapidly losing its air.

Harry felt a little confused, and hurt that he hadn’t had the opportunity to try. Still the balloon was a bit humorous.

The boggart came to rest in front of Neville and once more became Snape. But Neville was ready and a moment later the boggart was once more dressed as an old lady. The entire class burst with laughter once more and the boggart exploded.

“Well done everyone, well done. Let’s see, five points to everyone who faced the boggart, ten to Neville as he did so twice. And five to Harry and Hermione for answering my questions correctly at the beginning of class. Harry if you could stay for a moment, class dismissed.

Everyone else began to wander out of the room chatting amiably. Hermione rushed over and squeezed his hand quickly while muttering something about the library, before she too rushed out.

“Professor, you wanted to talk to me?” Harry asked when the room was empty except for him and Lupin.

“Yes Harry, I was wondering if you might like to join me for a spot of tea after dinner. We could catch up.” He smiled warmly, and Harry could just see a touch of something. Some emotion he thought, but one he didn’t recognize.

Seeing no reason not to agree Harry returned the smile. “Yes sir, that would be nice.”

“Excellent, I’ll see you then. I have another class to get to now, so I’ll see you later.”

The meeting with Remus turned out to be one part apology for Remus not having been around for most of Harry’s life. And one part sharing of stories, mostly about pranks they had played.  
Harry told Remus about the student journals his dad had left him, which Remus had read several of, as James had shared them with his friends as well.

They also discussed the marauders map and Harry’s plan to make a new one. Unfortunately Remus only knew how the map was made. The efforts to connect it to the wards, while he was involved, were done primarily by Sirius, and Remus had never learned how to do it. Though he did offer to look over what Harry had done so far and offer any advice he could.

That gave Harry an idea, but he would need to talk with the others before he could do anything with it.

So it was that he was really looking forward to their first meeting in the lab, which they had scheduled for Thursday of the first week.

He was meditating when they arrived. If he was going to be able to manage a full transformation without external aid by winter break he would have to do this many times over the coming weeks. So he was making it a daily habit, morning and evening. 

“Hello Harry-kins.” Fred called as he and George entered the lab. “Are you excited yet?”

“Been excited all week Freddy my boy.” Harry responded with a cheeky grin. Fred and George both slowly turned to give him a pair of calculating looks.

“Well, Harry’s feeling good. Don’t you think so Fred?”

“I do George, I think we’re going to have to think of a good way to return his kindness.”

“Next Wednesday, I’m going to stand up in front of the whole school and sing a David Bowie song. Is that not enough for you?”

“Well, it might be. But then, we could make it worse.” Fred intoned with mock gravity.

“We found this wonderful potion that would be perfect for this. It makes your singing voice really, well, magical for a couple of hours. Celestina Warbeck, mum’s favorite singer, you know the one she plays constantly around christmas. Swears by this potion. We were thinking we could brew some up for you.”

“But if you think you don’t need it, we could always change the recipe and see what happens.”

Harry smiled, “ah but I’ll make you drink anything you make for me that day. So you’ll have to deal with whatever I have to.”

“Oh Fred, he knows how to turn the tables.”

“Truly we have met our match George.”

“Maybe we should focus on the plan, and make sure we have everything ready. Rather than starting a prank war. We can do that later.” Harry said, half glaring at the twin looks of incredulity they were shooting him. “Besides, I have a question for the two of you. What would you say to having Mooney join us for a few pranks, and maybe some private tutoring, if we can talk him into it? I also think we should bring him in on the plans for dealing with moldy.”

Fred and George were completely still from the moment Harry mentioned Mooney. Slowly they regained their animation as Fred began to speak. “Mooney? As in the Mooney, of the marauders?” At Harry’s nod he continued. “Yes! How? When?”

Harry chuckled. “Weren’t you paying attention at the welcoming feast? Or did you forget his real name?”

George caught on first. “You mean, our new defence teacher?”

“Yeah, he was one of my dad’s best friends. I had tea with him the other night to catch up, and share some stories. He offered to help with my next prank.”

Suddenly the redheads were on the floor in front of him. “You are our new god. Please teach us of your wisdom, oh mighty one.” They chanted as they bowed low, one after the other.

Laughing heartily Harry held up his hands. “Alright get up you two idiots. Save that for the man himself.”

“Harry, you got one of the marauders to offer to prank with us. That is so awesome!” George said excitedly. “You’re right of course that he deserves praise too, but so do you.”

Fred lay a hand on his brothers shoulder. “He’s also right that we need to get to work. The potion takes a couple days to brew, and we may need to do multiple runs to get it right. Let’s see if we can impress Mooney with a good school prank. That way he’ll know we can handle something bigger.”

George and Harry shared mischievous smiles as they looked at Fred. “Yes sir.” They shouted together. All three fell over laughing and clutching at each other. 

“So Harry, what are you working on this evening?” Fred asked as he and George began unpacking books.

“Well, I was meditating, waiting for you two to get here. Now I’m gonna go spend an hour or so in the big room for some staff and curse breaking practice. After that, I’m gonna work on the ring project. I would get right on the paintball guns, but I think getting a better understanding of the staff and ring will give me a better handle on how to construct them. It is a rather ambitious project.”

“Well then, you get on that mister Slytherin.” George chuckled at him.

“I will mister Ravenclaw, you get to your studies. I want all those books read by the time I get back.” Harry responded in as pompous a manner as he could manage.

With everyone laughing, Fred pulled out his magical music box and turned up the rock and roll as they all got to work.

“Harry!” Hermione was rushing down the hall towards him. Tomorrow was the day of the prank, and he and the twins had been too busy to really spend time with the girls. He had managed some library time with Hermione, and a few hours of meditation with Luna. But mostly he’d been working with the twins. They hadn’t even managed to visit with Hagrid yet. Though Hermione had seen him, as she was taking care of magical creatures. Harry had opted against it, as he knew he would be able to continue going out into the forest with Hagrid anyway, and he could get all the lessons from him that anyway.

“Hermione!” Harry cried, as she caught up to him. Giving her a quick hug he asked. “Where’s the fire? Do I need to get anything?”

She slapped his arm. “Shut up you. I’ve got.” She broke off and looked around rapidly, then dragged him into an empty classroom. “I’ve got the list of all the muggle-born in Hogwarts this year. They’re in every house.”

“That’s good, I was thinking we might need people from every house. So how hard is it going to be to get an invite to all of them.”

“I’m not sure. Probably pretty hard. Especially if we’re going to do it quietly. I’m not sure how we can do it, without everyone in the school finding out before all the muggle-born do.”

“I have an idea for that, but I need to check on something first. I can do that now though.” He drew in a breath and in a slightly louder voice called. “Dobby?”

There was soft pop and the little elf appeared. “Master Harry Potter sir called Dobby?” He said excitedly.

“Yes I did Dobby, though mostly it was to see if I could. We have a plan for something, and we were hoping you would be able to help us.” He pointed at Hermione. “We want to deliver an invitation to all the muggle-born in the school, without anyone else knowing about it. Is that something you could help with Dobby?”

Dobby seemed to think for a moment before he smiled. “Yes Dobby can do that. When does master Harry Potter sir want Dobby to do this?”

“I’m not sure yet Dobby. In a couple of weeks I think. We need to figure out what the invitations are going to say first.” Harry thought for a moment and continued. “In the meantime Dobby, would you be up for running some errands for me? I want to get a couple of books, and I might need to get a few things from shops. Normally I’d owl order them, but if you could pop over to the shop and get them for me, that would be much faster.”

“Oh yes, master Harry Potter sir, Dobby would love to run errands for the great Harry Potter. What can I get for you sir?”

“I’ll have a list later. What are you doing now that you’re free of the Malfoy’s? I don’t want to take up too much of your time.”

“Oh Dobby is not doing anything. Dobby has not yet found a new family. Dobby would most like to serve the great Harry Potter, but Dobby knows that as Harry Potter sir is a student at Hogwarts he has very little work for Dobby to do. So Dobby has been looking for another family to serve until Harry Potter is out of Hogwarts. Dobby, Dobby was hoping he could serve the great Harry Potter when the great Harry Potter has need.”

“I’d be glad to have you serve me Dobby. But did you say you have no work right now?” At Dobby’s nod he continued. “Well then, I’ll hire you. I can’t pay a lot right now, but I can try to get you on here at Hogwarts while I’m a student. Would that be all right Dobby?”

Dobby’s eyes grew even wider than normal and the little elf threw itself into Harry, hugging Harry’s legs as tight as he could. ‘Oh yes, Harry Potter, yes. That would be wonderful!”

Smiling Harry patted the little guys back. Okay, meet me in my private lab tonight after dinner. Do you know where that is?” Dobby nodded. “Good, we can figure out your wage then. I’ve got to get to class soon, so I need to get going.”

“Yes sir, Harry Potter sir.” Dobby said, tears in his eyes. He snapped his fingers and vanished.

“Well, that was surprising. Are you sure you can handle it Harry?” Hermione asked, now that she had found her voice again.

“I’m sure I’ll learn as I go. Surely it won’t be too difficult.”

She gave a look that screamed scepticism, but nodded. “Well, you’re right, we do need to get to class. We need to get together soon and plan out what we’re doing with the muggle-born.”


	36. Chapter 36

“Good morning Harry.” Flitwick called when Harry knocked on the door frame Saturday morning. “Come in. Tea?” He waved at the table which was already set with tea and biscuits. “I have your tests ready, history, astronomy, potions and defence.”

“Wow, thanks professor. Umm, history, astronomy, potions, all sound good. I think I’ll actually sit the class time in defence this year though. Professor Lupin seems really good, so I think I might actually learn something from him. And it seems like the right thing to do to support him.”

“I wondered if you would feel that way. Well then, we won’t need this one then.” He said placing one of the parchments he had on his desk into a drawer. “History first?” He asked picking up one of the others.

“Sounds good.” Harry responded.

Four hours later, a sweaty and slightly wrung out feeling Harry was granted permission once more to skip history and potions.

“I’m not sure about astronomy though.” Flitwick said perusing the results of the exam. “You passed, but only just. Are you sure you want to drop it?”

“The only thing I expect to use astronomy for in future is navigation, which I have other methods of doing, when I need it. The movements of the stars aren’t really of much interest to me, and they don’t have any observable effect on spells or potions. Only the moon has any measurable effect and that’s easy enough to either overcome, as it’s so small, or work around by being careful in my planning. That’s why I asked about taking the O.W.L. this year. Even if I fail it, it wouldn’t matter to me, as the goal is just to free up the time slot.”

“Well, since you put it that way. I’ll allow you to drop it, but don’t complain to me if you don’t get the grade you want.” Flitwick said with a wink.

“I won’t professor.” Harry replied with a wink of his own.

“Well, good then. On to other matters. Have you been keeping up your mental practice? Do you want to continue with dueling?”

‘I have, and yes. Absolutely. I even managed to convince the Grangers to let me join the circuit next year.”

“Most excellent, well then we shall have to up your training a bit.”

“Not too much I hope. I still have exams to pass at the end of the year. As well as a few personal projects I want to work on.”

“Of course, Harry, we’ll be sure to give you plenty of time for all that. Although, there is one important thing I want to stress to you Harry. It is very important that you leave Sirius Black to the professionals. You are very good for your age, but Black is very good for his age, which despite his time lost in prison, is much older than you. While it is possible that you could win against him if you get lucky, you would have to get lucky. So please don’t go looking for him.”  
Blinking in stunned amazement Harry slowly responded. “I hadn’t even thought of looking for Black. As much as I would like to meet another friend of my parents, he’s not on that list. I don’t know what he did to get into prison, but I don’t think it was something my parents would have condoned.”

“Nor do I, Harry, nor do I. Well, I think that’s enough for today, shall we keep the same training schedule from last year, or do we need to change it?”

“I think it’s still good.”

“Excellent, I’ll see you on Wednesday then. Enjoy your weekend Harry.”

“You too professor.”

When Harry entered the great hall for dinner the evening of the prank he was rather nervous. He had taken the potion to improve his voice just before leaving his dorm and he could feel it working through the last bit of his vocal chords. They would eat first and then begin the show, but Harry’s heart was pounding. He really wanted to get it started.

He made sure to sit with Luna so it wouldn’t be too obvious that he was being quiet. Usually when he and Luna sat at the Ravenclaw table, they would eat as fast as they could and leave quickly.

When he had eaten his share he looked over at the twins and as soon as he had their attention he winked. Sign given to begin he took a deep breath. He felt the transfiguration hit his clothes just as he rose to his feet. His shirt sleeves grew several sizes, while his trousers became smoother, and tighter. A bulge grew from the front, apparently Hermione had decided to include that particular detail.

He could just hear music beginning to play, the rhythm catching him as he reached his full height, and a tickling around his scalp told him that the hair had been added. Looking to the sides he could see it wafting out around his head, mostly white, with strands of silver mixed in, and all of it glittering.

As though on cue the entire hall broke out laughing, as he stood on the bench and up onto the table. A deep thrumming beat of drums accompanying his steps. A guitar squealed for one note, and the laughter fell. He opened his throat and a voice that was like his, only smoother, deeper came rolling out.

“You remind me of the babe,” he sang pointing to Luna.

“What babe?” Came squeaking from across the hall, where Fred was now sitting on the Gryffindor table.

“The babe with the power.” He sang back.

“What power?” George joined his voice to the melody.

“Power of voodoo,”

“Hoodoo,”

“You do. Remind me of the babe.” They sang back and forth.

For long moments as Harry sang the students and staff were quiet, watching in rapt attention. Until he reached the first refrain of “dance magic dance” and the potion they had placed in the pumpkin juice took effect. The entire hall leapt from their seats and joined in the dancing that followed.

When the song was finished a few minutes later the students were laughing and chatting about the great prank. Some of the staff were as well, Dumbledore in particular seemed to be attempting to get Mcgonagall to continue dancing with him. Flitwick was bouncing in his seat chatting happily with Sprout who was next to him, and Harry could just barely catch his squeaky voice saying how fun that was.

Then there were those who did not appreciate the revelry. Professor Snape foremost among them. “Potter.” He yelled across the hall. “Twenty points from Ravenclaw.” He looked like he wanted to say more, but when he flicked his eyes at Flitwick and saw the diminutive man glaring at him he stopped.

Harry only just registered all of that though. He was busy receiving praise and admiration from his fellow Ravenclaws. They were all rather impressed it seemed with both his voice and his clothes. Several girls kept trying to touch him, saying they wanted to feel the material. One girl even ran her hand up his thigh and squeaked when she grabbed the enormous codpiece that had taken up the front of his trousers. Another was commenting on the suppleness of the leather. While more were talking about how soft his shirt was and where did he get it, and how much did it cost. They didn’t even seem to notice when he answered that the entire wardrobe was transfigured.

Surprisingly, at least to Harry, only one person asked where the song had come from. He doubted whether they heard his answer though, as he could barely hear himself over the tumult around the table.

He wasn’t able to escape the gaggle until after they had returned to the tower and people began splitting off for their dorms. Though even then a couple of girls offered to join him in his bed, if he was going to stay looking like David Bowie. Fortunately the transfigurations chose that moment to wear off and he returned to normal.

Up in his dorm, even his roommates mentioned how impressive they had found the magic. They asked if the twins had been involved at all, since they had been singing with him. He admitted that they had been, and there was a murmur of how they were most likely getting the same treatment from Gryffindor that Harry had gotten from Ravenclaw.

“Okay, so how are we getting the muggle-born of Hogwarts to join us?” Fred asked at their next full gathering, just a few days after the David Bowie prank.

“And when are we doing it?” George added.

“Well, Harry already figured out the how. Dobby is going to help us. Speaking of, did you get everything figured out Harry?” Hermione said, her eyes gleaming with the desire to get going.

“Yeah, he’s bonded to me now, but mostly working in the kitchen for hogwarts. He’ll deliver the invites once we get them sorted.”

“So we need to decide what the invites will say, and when we’re having the first meeting.” Hermione was starting to look a bit hyper.

“Well, shouldn’t we start with what we’re going to tell them?” Luna asked. “I mean, are we going to tell them like Harry did, show them the memories. Or are we going to just talk at them? Or something else?”

“I vote the memories thing.” George said. “It gets the point across fastest, and we can fill in the blanks after.”

Fred nodded. “Yeah, but maybe break it up a bit. I thought it was a great idea what you did with the parents Harry. But it was hard to remember what I wanted to ask about the first memory after the rest had played. So maybe show one, then answer some questions, then the next, and so on.”

“Oh yes, I like that.” Hermione bounced in her seat as she spoke. “And that would give everyone a chance to really understand each part as it comes.”

“I agree, that should help keep the wrackspurts away.” Luna opined.

“Okay, that’s the beginning of a plan, but which memory do we show first? And who shows it? Do we have Harry do all of that, or do we trade off? For that matter, should we have Harry there in the first place? I mean, there was all that stuff last year, and technically, it never got proven wrong. Because of what happened we couldn’t tell everyone, and some of them are likely to still be a little wary. And..”

“Hermione!” Harry barked, stopping her wind up for a long winded speech. “Good questions, and I have an idea for that. How about you meet them at first. Give them a chance to relax, while you tell them about the basic idea. Then we’ll show up and talk a bit. Then we start the memory show. How does that sound?”

“I like it Harry. Can you do it Hermione?” George said.

Hermione went a little pink, but held her head up and nodded. “Yes, I can do it. I’ll need some time to work out exactly what I’m going to say though.” She pulled out a notepad and started jotting down ideas.

Harry smiled, he had spent a lot of time over the summer to convince Hermione that joining the magical community didn’t have to mean abandoning everything great about the non-magical community. It had taken most of the summer before she finally begrudgingly agreed, but she now had several three ring binders in which she copied out all of her notes from the last two years, and was planning on continuing. What Harry found amusing about this though, was that she had more notes in each subject than he did. And her memory was better than his.

Hermione screeched, breaking Harry out of his brief revery. Looking up he saw that she was fighting with Loki, who seemed to be trying to steal her pen. The twins were out of sight, but the sound of their laughter floated up from the other side of the table. Luna meanwhile was watching with what passed for curiosity on her part.

Wanting to help, and knowing the best way to get Loki to shift targets was to distract him, Harry pulled a carrot out of his bag and waved it in front of the little six legged lizard. Loki blinked and his head turned to follow the treat. Despite their appearance faux dragons were omnivorous, rather than strictly carnivorous, and Harry had learned that Loki in particular loved carrots. So he had taken to carrying several of them to distract the little fellow with. Loki had grown quite a bit in the few months since he had hatched, and was now almost as long as Harry’s forearm. And he was very nearly at roughly half of his full grown size. He should start talking soon, but it was impossible to be sure when that would be.

There was a bright flash of fire and Azure joined them. How exactly Luna had come up with a name that means blue for such a bright red bird, Harry would never understand. But he would also never argue about the beauty of the phoenix. It landed on the table eyed Loki for a moment and cooed. The entire room quieted as a feeling of calm flooded over them. Loki dropped the pen and slowly turned to gaze at the bird.

“I’m so jealous of you two.” Hermione said. I’ve been meaning to make the potion that will allow me to bond with Crookshanks like that. I just haven’t had time.”

“It only takes a week Hermione, and most of that is just letting it stew. Why not get it started and work on your speech while your waiting for the next stage?” Luna said dreamily, watching the two familiars on the table eye each other.

“Oh, now I feel stupid. I should have thought of that. Thank you Luna.” Hermione burst out, rushing around the table to hug the little blonde. “Harry, Fred, George. Do you mind if I take over the end station for a week?”

“Go ahead Hermione.” Fred waved to the station. “While she’s doing that, why don’t you two tell us what she’s talking about.”

Harry and Luna shared a quick smile and launched into an explanation of familiars, and how they had each created theirs. The twins were rapt and as soon as the explanation was finished they moved to a corner and began a rapid conversation that was nonetheless quiet enough not to be overheard.

“Well, that just leaves us for a bit. Did you need any help tonight Luna?”

“Not tonight no.” She replied. “But Sunday, yes. If you wouldn’t mind. There’s something I’ve been wanting to do, and this is the first chance I’ve had. I’ll need some help though.” She looked at him expectantly.

“Of course Luna, I’d be glad to help. What should I bring with me?”

“Just yourself Harry. Can we meet here?”

“Yeah, what time? Do we need to tell the others to stay away?”

“Hmm, yes probably, and late I think. We may be out after curfew. I don’t suppose you have your map finished do you?”

“Not yet. I got it all drawn up, but the enchantments are evading me. I need to connect it to the wards, and I haven’t been able to figure out how. Unfortunately, we got the wrong marauder to help. It was Sirius who figured out how to do it for the original.”

“Hmm, well maybe you can ask when you meet him. Can you borrow the one from the twins then? We might need it to get back to our dorm.”

“I’m sure they won’t mind. I’ll mention it to them when they get done with their discussion. In the meantime, would you like to help me with my ring project?”

“Sure Harry, what do I need to do?”

Pulling out his trunk he began to explain. “First we need to make a potion which will form the mold into which we will pour the metal for the ring. Do you want to do yours first?” Luna smiled brightly and nodded several times. “Alright then, we’ll need to add your blood to the potion, that will give it a connection to you. Once that’s done we have to wait for it to cool, which will take about an hour. We can melt the metal,” he held up a small block of silver he had prepared during the summer, “if we time it right the mold should be ready about the time the metal is. The second potion we’ll start once the first is finished, and we use that to set the ring, it will also need your blood.”

“Okay, how much blood?’ Luna asked holding up her hand.

Harry set a shot glass on the table. “That much, about half in each potion.”

“Alright.” She said drawing her knife. She pricked her finger and allowed the blood to flow into the small cup. “Should I fill it now, or only half?”

“Half now, we’ll get the other half when we get to the second potion. We need it to be fresh.”

“Okay.” She squeezed her fingers together to staunch the flow.

Harry pulled out his first aid kit and wrapped her finger in a bandage. “There you go.” He said dropping a kiss on the digit. “All better.”

Giggling Luna held up her finger. “Kisses make everything better. Now I have to never wash this hand again, it’s been touched by David Bowie.”

Trying to hide a slight blush Harry turned to the cauldron and began the first potion.

The bubbling of cauldrons, and the scratch of quills filled the next couple of hours. The twins were working on their homework. They had reminded Harry that they needed him to do the enchantment on a pair of boots so they could finish their magical skates, which Harry had promised to do tomorrow.

As everyone was packing up to get back to the dorms before curfew, Harry and Luna cracked open the mold containing her new focus ring. It was exquisite, gleaming silver shaped like a phoenix wrapped around her finger, a bright ruby held in its beak above the knuckle. The gem seemed to glow gently.

When she placed the ring on her finger there was a bright flash, and the glow seemed to pulse with her heartbeat. Raising her hand she pointed to a spoon still lying on the table and said “wingardium leviosa” while flicking her finger upward. The spoon rose shakily into the air. “The difference is slight, but noticeable. Weaker than my wand, but still stronger than without it.”

Fred, George, and Hermione gawped. “Luna, how did you do that?” They asked with one voice.

“Jinx, you owe me a coke.” Harry cried before they even finished sharing a look of amusement.

“What?” Fred asked.

“Something he picked up in America.” Hermione told them. “The kids in one the campsites near us did that at least once a day. They told Harry that they called it a jinx, and whoever called it was owed a coke by the other.” She shook her head at him and he smiled back.

“Okay, but what’s a coke?” George asked.

“It’s a muggle beverage. You had one over the summer, at the movies. The one that bites back you called it.”

“Oh, yeah I didn’t like that one. I’ll stick with butterbeer.”

Laughing they all headed out, not even noticing that neither Luna or Harry had answered the question about Luna’s ring.

The first time Harry brought Remus to the lab was a bit of an eye opener. The twins went insane, just as Harry expected. They threw themselves on the floor, proclaimed their undying devotion and brought out the original map for Remus to look over, and then begged for stories of the marauders adventures.

Hermione on the other hand, had squeaked and gushed over the fact that a professor was spending time with them, and asked for help with her homework. Which turned out to be the real surprise of the evening, as Remus immediately launched into a discussion with Hermione about her essay, and what books would best help her to understand the lesson. Apparently Mooney was as much of a bookworm as Hermione.

Luna however was the most fun, she bemused the poor man with discussion of odd creatures that he had never heard of. And he didn’t seem to know how to handle her, despite clearly trying to be as polite as possible.

For Remus though, the realization that all five of them knew of his condition and accepted him regardless was the breaking point. He fell onto the stool he had risen from when Luna mentioned that he was far kinder than she had expected a werewolf to be. And when Hermione laid her hand over his and said it was okay, they he wasn’t a danger to them, he blushed.

Harry considered the evening a success though. Remus had shared several stories of the marauders pranks, and had laughed uproariously at the retelling of the more impressive ones they had played. He even helped in planning the next prank they were setting up for the beginning of October.

When Luna showed off her ring, which they had finally explained to the twins and Hermione, He had floundered for a minute. Then he had grabbed Harry into a fierce hug and praised his genius for nearly an hour. Then he asked if Harry would be willing to make one for him.

Smiling Harry pulled out the tools and explained the process. He intended to make one for all of his friends this year, including the new ones that would be joining them. While the ring was being made, the twins pulled out the projection pensieve and asked Harry to show Mooney the memories he had shown their parents over the summer.

After a brief argument Harry did so. The ring was finished long before the memories, and Remus was so absorbed in the memories that he didn’t notice until they had finished.  
“Harry that’s incredible. You fought Voldemort, and killed a basilisk. And you’re still alive.” His voice fell at the end and he grabbed Harry into another tight hug, as though to convince himself that Harry was indeed there.

After some explanation of what they were planning, both with their parents, and with the muggle-born of the school Remus agreed to help in any way he could. And finally picked up the ring Harry had made for him.

Remus’ ring was gold, the setting was carved into a pair of wolves howling, a diamond held between their jaws. The gem was much more round than most cuts and looked rather like a full moon upon close inspection. There was the same bright flash when he put it on, and the gem again seemed to pulse with his heartbeat.

Remus had a little difficulty in getting his spells to work without his wand, which he attributed to being more settled in wand use. He needed to “forget” what he had learned about using a wand, where the teens had far less to let go of in order to use the rings properly.


	37. Chapter 37

The first meeting of what they were tentatively calling the muggle-born alliance took most of September to plan and arrange. Hermione had written home several times for extra ideas, and materials. Harry had even helped by asking Xeno for copies of old articles from the Quibbler. And the twins had asked their dad to send old articles from the daily prophet, and some information from the ministry records, not that there was much of that as they had to stick with what was available to the public. 

When the day finally came Harry was nervous; after all, it wasn’t like he was going to have to address close to a hundred students, many of whom thought that he had been responsible for the attacks last year.

It had actually surprised Harry when they got the final numbers. He had only known of a few muggle-born in the school, but it turned out that even though they only made up roughly twenty percent of the student body, with a total of just over five hundred students, that still meant a lot.

The twins were pacing and mumbling. Harry thought they were practicing what they would say when it was their turn to talk. Even Luna looked like she was getting jittery, despite doing her homework in the corner.

There was a sound of many feet in the large room they had set up in the “come and go” room as Dobby had called it when he first met Harry here. Harry, Fred, George, and Luna, were waiting in a small side room so Hermione could get everyone in and explain a few things before they entered.

The rumbling sound of many students gathering slowly settled down, and Harry risked a peek to see how things were going. It appeared that while they had left the seating open so as not to enforce house separation, the students had separated on their own.

The Ravenclaws were closest to where Harry was waiting, and in front of them jockeying for position were the Gryffindors. Next to the Gryffindors were the Hufflepuffs, who were quietly arranging themselves so as to give their entire group a good view of the small stage. Behind them and closest to the exit were the Slytherins, who had the smallest number of students. Only five, and Harry was surprised to recognize one of them from his year. He couldn’t recall the girls name, but he knew he had a few classes with her.

Hermione was trying to get everyone organized with no luck. Between the noisily chatting students, and the shuffling of chairs no one could hear her, unless they were standing right next to her.

It was probably only a few minutes, but it felt like hours passed before they were all seated, and Hermione made her way onto the stage.

“Good evening everyone, thank you for coming.” Hermione started, but was quickly interrupted.

“What’s this all about Hermione?” One of the Gryffindors yelled.

“Yeah, and why are the snakes here?” Called a second.

“I thought this was for muggle-born only.” Cried a third.

“Please!” Hermione yelled. “Calm down, those questions will be answered if you just listen. And yes this meeting is for muggle-born only, and I checked everyone as they came in. Everyone in this room is muggle-born, yes that includes the Slytherin students who have joined us.”

There was a murmur through the crowd as the non-Slytherins assimilated that Slytherin house did in fact accept non-purebloods.

“So,” Hermione spoke over the murmur, “to begin with.” She took a deep breath, which caught several people’s attention, as she was clearly bracing herself for something. “Who here knows who V, Voldemort is?”

The reaction to this question was odd, in that no one flinched, or cried out, or screamed, although there was a collective gasp. Hands began slowly rising as people got over the initial surprise of hearing the name of the most feared wizard in recent history.

“Okay good, most but not quite all.” Hermione said nodding to the few people who had not raised their hands. “So, I’ll have to ask the rest of you to bear with me for a minute as I explain briefly to those who don’t know. About twenty three years ago, a wizard who had named himself lord Voldemort,” there was another collective gasp, but Hermione ignored it, “appeared for the first time. He was preaching that the wizarding world should rise up and conquer the muggles. However his first move was an attack on Diagon Alley. His followers who called themselves death eaters, and wore white masks to hide their identities, along with cursing and killing at random, left messages on the walls for the ministry to hand over control to their lord. Over the next eleven years the death eaters and their leader ran what amounts to a terrorist campaign. They attacked both magical and muggle locations and people. Always stating that they wanted control of everything, and demonstrating a penchant for brutality that makes the spanish inquisition look gentle.”

There was a brief bout of laughter at the mention of the inquisition. One Gryffindor even called out, “no one expects the spanish inquisition.” At which many more joined the laughter, and a few of the younger students asked for explanations of the joke. 

When everyone calmed down again Hermione continued. “Well, I wasn’t intending that to be funny. But I’m glad the tension broke a little. So, things were bad, but then a sort of miracle happened for most people.”

“Harry Potter!” Called a voice from the Hufflepuff seats. Harry dropped his head into his hand trying to hide his blush. Unfortunately George saw it and jabbed him in the ribs. “See, we’re not the only ones who think you’re awesome.”

“Sort of yes,” Hermione said, “Harry actually thinks it was his mother who did it. But of course he gets the praise because he survived. But do try to recall that for Harry, it was a tragedy.”

“Why?” Came a voice from the Slytherin seats.

“How would you feel if you lost your parents, before you ever knew them?” Hermione responded sadly. The room went very quiet, and she was able to continue without further interruption. “But yes, Voldemort attacked the Potters, somehow Harry survived, and Voldemort disappeared. That was twelve years ago. Many suspected death eaters were arrested. Some of them were sent to Azkaban. That’s the prison used by wizarding Britain, for those who didn’t know. While many more were released on a claim of imperius. Again, for those who don’t know, the imperius curse is a form of mind control that can not be defended against. It also requires public testimony under veritaserum, which is a highly effective truth potion, to be used as a defence. Not one of the accused death eaters was tried in public session, they were all questioned behind closed doors, by their political allies.”

“How could they get away with that?” Yelled someone.

Hermione held up a hand to stall any further questions. “Because, from it’s creation the ministry has been controlled by old pureblood families. Families like the Malfoy’s, the Knot’s, and the Macnair’s. There are a few like the Greengrasses, who are fair minded despite having been pure blooded for centuries. And families like the Longbottoms who have never cared about blood, but they are outnumbered by the blood purists.”

She stopped for a moment here, taking another deep breath to warn the audience that a change of subject was coming. “Getting back to the main point. Voldemort is a bad, bad person, who tried to rule us all, and will most likely try again if he is ever given the chance.”

“But he’s dead!” Squeaked a voice from the Slytherin section.

“And on that note, I'd like to turn the stage over to Luna Lovegood, who will introduce our first show and tell piece.”

Luna wafted out onto the stage to light applause. The audience seemed to be trying to understand what they had been told, and had only a small amount of attention for Luna.

“Good evening everyone.” Luna greeted the crowd. “I hope we can avoid the wrackspurts, but we’ll probably have a few to deal with. But maybe this will help us avoid them.” She pointed to the projection pensieve which had appeared in the middle of the crowd. “This is a special pensieve, invented by Harry potter and Nicholas Flamel over the past summer. They really are quite smart you know. And Harry has offered to share a few memories with us all. We won’t watch them all at once though. Which is good really, because we can ask questions about each memory as it’s fresh, instead of having to remember our questions for a long time. Which can be really difficult if you haven’t written them down, and we want to answer all your questions if we can, so it’s good that we aren’t showing them all at once.”

“Luna.” Hermione called. “You’re rambling again.” She said fondly.

“Oh right, sorry. Well, here is the first memory.” Luna said and wafted down to the projector and tapped it.

The crowd fell into an uneasy silence as Harry, Fred, and George appeared on the back wall, clearly from a couple years ago, and setting up a prank. As the students watched, Quirrell entered the view. Some of the younger students asked who the man in the purple turban was.  
The room fell completely silent as Quirrell cast three quick imperius curses and forced the three boys out of the room. There were many gasps, and a couple of screams when the cerberus leapt at the boys, and cheers when a harp began to play, sending the three headed dog to sleep.  
Several people recognized the devil’s snare and called out the solution before Quirrell had produced the flames to release the struggling students. There were cheers as the three of them were forced to chase the flying key, and cries of terror as they were forced to play a very violent game of chess.

A few girls broke out in tears when George was hit by a chessman, while several boys yelled obscenities at Quirrell. Most of the room screamed or squeaked at the troll, and there was a murmur of confusion when they entered the room with a table full of potions.

The mirror made much of the room laugh, while others were heard sniffling.

Then Quirrell removed his turban, and the entire crowd screamed. As the memory ended, there was a rumble of students clamoring for answers.

Luna returned to the stage. “I imagine you all have a lot of questions.” She said dreamily, and ignored the numerous people yelling questions at her. “To answer them, here is Harry.” She continued, though no one but Harry could hear her.

Harry, Fred and George came out and took the stage. The noise died down as the students realized who was in front of them. Harry held up his hands, hoping they would remain silent long enough for him to say his first bit before he got loaded with questions.

“Hello everyone. I know you have a lot of questions, and I’ll be happy to answer them in a moment. I just have one thing to say first. In a way, I’m just like all of you. I was raised in the muggle world. I didn’t learn about magic until I got my Hogwarts letter, a month before my first year. Just like all of you. And just like all of you, when Voldemort manages to get himself a new body, I’ll be on the top of his list of targets. Trust me when I say that I am on your side. Okay, one question at a time please. Umm, let’s start on my right, and go person by person, so everyone gets a chance to ask their question.” He pointed to the right most seat from where he was standing.

The Gryffindor, who Harry recognized as one of Fred and George’s roommates, stood up and asked. “How is he still alive?”

”I don’t know. I only know that he is.” Harry answered and pointed to the next person.

The question and answer session took a little over an hour and included everything from, how did you know how to beat him, to why didn’t you just run away. The crowd was looking fairly worried at the end. The news that Voldemort was still alive was sinking in.

Hermione came back up to the stage depositing a memory along the way. A new scene lit up behind her as she turned to the crowd. “This is just a quick chart I put together to show you all what I was talking about earlier concerning the wizengamot, which is the body that makes our laws and also handles all criminal cases. A bit like parliament and the courts rolled into one. As you can see there are currently fifty three members of the wizengamot. I’ve highlighted those members who have demonstrated a willingness, or even a desire to integrate people like us into the wizarding world in green, those highlighted in yellow are those who have shown tolerance, but not real acceptance, and those in blue are the ones who have voted for laws to disallow our entrance, or to make it legal to hunt our parents like animals, or anything else like that. Most of them were also accused of being death eaters, and they were tried by others in blue.”

There were several cries, gasps, and other signs of outrage as the group recognized that over two thirds of the names had been marked with blue. There were several loud exclamations of “that’s not fair” or “but it’s almost all blue.”

Holding up her hands for quiet Hermione continued. “Yes as you can see, not only are we not represented on the wizengamot, there is almost no way any law treating us with dignity could ever pass. I checked back on the hiring records, and only a few muggle-born are even allowed to work in the ministry.”

“What can we do?” Someone from the back of the crowd asked.

“About this? We don’t know yet. Our parents,” she pointed to herself, Harry, the twins, and Luna, “Are looking into options, and also working on getting in touch with your parents, as well as any muggle-born who have already finished here at Hogwarts. I brought it up today, just to let you all know what to expect. Who else here has been called a mudblood by one of the pureblood supremacists?”

Once more several people raised their hands, Harry noted that everyone of the Slytherins did, while only about half of the other houses had.

“We can expect that to continue, and possibly get worse, as long as nothing changes. And if Voldemort gets a new body, it will definitely get worse.”

“But how likely is that?” Someone from the Ravenclaw seats asked.

“That’s a good lead into the second memory we want to show you.” Harry answered. “This one is a little darker than the first, but I think will answer that question.”

The five left the stage, Harry tapping the projector once more.

The room slipped into deep shadows as the Chamber of Secrets appeared on the back wall. The five friends were standing around chatting, but a noise interrupted them. They scattered up a nearby column, and there was a lot of gasping from the crowd. A hooded figure walked into view and stopped in front of the statue.

A hissing sort of voice issued from the figure and a few people cried out in fear. A second voice began a moment after the hissing, translating what was said. The statue opened its mouth and a giant snake slithered out. More screams accompanied the appearance of the immense reptile. The fight went much faster than it had felt at the time. There was cheering when the sword and daggers flew out of the darkness and began attacking the snake, and gasps of sympathy when rocks pelted the cloaked person.

When the memory went completely dark Harry called out. “It’s not done yet, just skipping time.” The cloaked person was seated and tied down when the memory started again.

Someone called out. “Who is it?”

In the memory Harry reached out and pulled the hood from the figure. The bright blonde hair of Draco Malfoy shone in the torchlight. As the friends in the memory questioned Malfoy, more gasps and cries of confusion and fear could be heard through the crowd.

“He possessed someone else?” Was yelled several times.

The memory went dark again, and once more Harry yelled to the crowd. “One more folks, hold in there.”

Lucius Malfoy replaced his son. Harry asked about the diary, and then if there were any more items like it. When Malfoy explained about the cup, and others he had heard rumor of, the crowd grumbled.

When the lights came back up Harry was back on the stage. “So, now you know. The Malfoy’s, who claimed when they were captured with other death eaters to have been under the imperius curse, last year delivered an item intended to return Voldemort to a body to the school. An item that caused the Chamber to be opened, and a basilisk released onto the students. They also know of at least one other item out there somewhere that could return him to a body.” The room had fallen deathly quiet, and as Harry looked out on the crowd he noticed that many of them had gone very pale. “He’s still alive, just looking for a new body, and he has multiple ways to get one. Worse he has made at least two attempts in the last two years. Does anyone here think he will just give up?” No one moved. “Me either, and I’m not arrogant enough to think that I will be there every time, or even to think that I could stop him if I was. Sooner or later he’ll figure out a way to do it. But unlike last time, I intend to be ready for him. I want to get as many people ready as I can. I want to invite all of you to join me, and the few who have already agreed to be a part of this. We’re going to build an army, and when he gets a new body, we’re going to be ready. And this time, when he comes for us, for our families, for our friends. He won’t find easy targets, he won’t find people cowering in their homes, hoping to be left alone. He’ll find a strong, able group, ready to fight for our futures, for our homes, for our families.” Harry noticed in the back of his mind that his voice had slowly risen louder and louder as he spoke, until at the end he was nearly shouting. And when he reached the end he felt his fist rise into the air, and with it, every student in the room rose from their seats and cheered.

The formal feeling devolved after that and everyone started milling around chatting together. Hermione rushed at Harry and wrapped him in a hug. “That was incredible Harry.” She yelled almost directly into his ear.

“Aagh, careful Hermione, I might want to hear the teachers next week.” Harry laughed returning the hug.

There were still more questions to answer, mostly to do with what exactly they were going to do. And the more important question, in Harry’s mind, if they were inviting anyone else from the school to join. The friends did their best to answer everyone’s questions, sometimes sending whoever asked to someone else who knew the answer better. Which mostly meant that Harry and Hermione were doing most of the answering.

Harry was clear that he wanted everyone willing to help, though not everyone would actually fight, rather he wanted to work everyone’s interests in to their roles. For example, they would need healers, so anyone interested in that would be encouraged to study hard and help keep everyone going. The twins had some ideas on how to fight in the air on broomsticks, which they planned to share with the quidditch players, and so on.

Hermione laid out their tentative plans for training everyone, in dueling, and then helping everyone to improve in their field of choice, much like the muggle military, where everyone knows how to fight, but most help with the fight by doing something related really well.

There was a feeling of general excitement at the end of the meeting, and everyone was informed to bring any friend they were sure would be willing to help against the death eaters to the next meeting. Which would be about halfway through October.

The following afternoon Harry was down at the quidditch pitch, broomstick in hand, for the Ravenclaws trials. Roger Davies had once again informed the house that he would be holding full trials, as he wanted to be sure that they had the best team they could. And once again, nearly the whole house showed up.

Cho Chang sidled up to him, holding her own broom, which Harry noted with a touch of worry, was a cleansweep 7. Almost as good as the nimbus 2000 Harry was holding. She had been his only real competition for trials last year. And with a new broom, she would be even harder to beat this year.

“Hello Potter.” She said by way of greeting. “Feeling good today?”

“Chang,” Harry responded, “I’m well. A little excited, you?”

“Looking forward to beating you in the seeker trials this year. Hopefully we’ll have a fair trial this time. Last year we had a large difference in our brooms, and Boot kept trying to block you. I told him off this morning, so hopefully he won’t do it again.”

Harry knew he should just let her keep going, but he didn’t catch the question in time, and it just blurted out of his mouth. “Why?”

She stopped and looked at him curiously. “I want a fair trial Potter. Sure I want the spot. But I want to earn the spot, not cheat my way into it.” She smiled gently. “You’re really good Harry, and I want Ravenclaw to have the best seeker we can have. If I were interested in quidditch as a career, I’d be more competitive, but I want to be a healer. So if you’re the better seeker, than we should have you on the team. I just don’t like the idea of anyone getting a position because they had a better broom, or because their opponent was being blocked unfairly.”

“Only unfairly blocked?” Harry asked with a cheeky grin.

“Of course, seekers get blocked all the time in a real game. But if we’re going to have a fair seeker trial, then we have to both be blocked the same. Or at least the same amount, by the same people.”

Harry, feeling a bit stunned, blinked at her owlishly for a moment. “Wow, Chang that’s really nice of you. Yeah, we definitely want the trials to be fair. I just didn’t expect anyone to be concerned enough to do something about it. Thanks.” He held out his hand, and was only a little surprised when she took it and shook.

“May the best seeker win.” She said, a sparkle in her eye.

The trials went the same as last year, with everyone proving they could fly, followed by the position trials. This time, Harry decided just to go for seeker, so he got to relax and wait, while everyone else was wearing themselves out. Well everyone except Chang, who was also only trying for seeker. They sat together and discussed the other players.

Finally the seeker trials were called. Harry and Cho were joined by Terry Boot again, along with Kevin Entwhistle who nodded very slightly at Harry, and two others Harry didn’t know.

Davies explained the process, which was the same as last year, and they all kicked off into the air.

Two dozen golf balls were soon zipping through the air, and the hopefuls were running them down as fast as they could. It seemed that whatever Chang had said to Boot had worked. Harry was only blocked by others trying to catch golf balls, rather than having people randomly just trying to get in his way.

When the race was done they all held up their catches and once again it was a close run between Harry and Cho. Boot once more had only caught one, the two Harry didn’t recognize had three each, Entwhistle had four. Leaving only thirteen remaining. Harry looked down and quickly counted how many he held in his hands. Six, which left seven. He had lost, Cho had caught more than he had. Except she was looking down too, she held out six balls as well. Before he could wonder what had happened Davies summoned the last ball from the pitch, apparently one had fallen to the ground uncaught by anyone.

“How do we settle a tie?” Someone called from the surrounding crowd.

“Easy,” said Davies, “both of you back in the air. Inglebee, release one of the bludgers. I’m going to launch three more, we’ll see which of you catches more.”

With matching feral grins Harry and Cho launched themselves back into the air. A moment later the small black bludger was pelting across the sky towards them and they had to swerve to avoid being hit. Harry watched Davies for the release, but it was a lot more difficult with the bludger rushing around attempting to unseat him. It seemed that Davies wanted to see how well the two of them avoided the bludgers before he sent the balls up. Unlike the first trial though, he sent the balls up one at a time.

The first ball rose up and Harry shot towards it. However Cho had seen it as well, and she too was rushing towards the ball, which shot off away from them. It led them on a merry chase across the pitch, aided by the bludger which came barrelling down on them, forcing them to break apart, twice before they were scrabbling for the little white ball. They reached out for it, hands only an inch away, Harry pressed himself as flat to his broom as he could. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Cho doing the same, achingly long moments passed as their hands drew closer to the flighty little ball. Unlike the real snitch though, it wasn’t jerking back and forth, rather it was flying straight ahead as fast as the charms Davies had placed on it would allow. Closer they got, closer, with a scream of triumph Harry wrapped his fingers around it and held it high.

When they slowed to catch their breath Chang congratulated him on a good catch. Smiling he thanked her and they both looked to Davies for the next release. Davies was pointing at something behind them though. They turned to see what he was about and had to dive to avoid the bludger that had nearly caught them.

The next few minutes were filled with dodging a blasted black ball that just wouldn’t let up. It was as though the thing was angered that they had managed to avoid it and was trying to make up for its failure.

When Harry glanced over and saw Cho rushing toward a small white ball his heart stopped for a second. He leaned into the wind and pushed the broom as hard as he could. Fortunately the ball swerved towards him giving him the chance to catch up and join the race. But it wasn’t enough, he got there just in time for the final stretch, and Cho was already reaching for the ball. Her hand shot up and they were tied, one to one. Only one ball to go, and whichever of them caught it would win. They nodded grimly to each other and parted to circle the pitch and wait.

Davies didn’t wait so long this time. The last ball rose into the air and shot off away from the two seekers. This time, Harry and Cho saw it at the same time and shot off like a pair of bullets. There was a slight difference in their brooms, but not enough to be really noticeable over such a short distance, and they reached the small white ball at the same time. Cho reached for it, Harry reached for it. They brushed their fingers against it, so close, almost there.

Wham. The bludger slammed into the ball, breaking at least one of Harry's fingers in the process, and Harry watched as the small white ball spiraled towards the ground. Unwilling to give up he pointed the broom down and gave chase once more. The wind whipped about him, pulling his hair back, and making his eyes water. He reached out, he was almost, got it! A foot from the ground he pulled out of the dive, brushing his toes along the grass. Only then did he notice that Cho was still high in the air clutching one hand and watching him curiously.

When they landed everyone rushed over as the beaters were forcing the bludger back into the box.

Cho opened her mouth and began to complain that she had lost due to a broken finger, but Harry held up his own broken finger and she fell silent.

“Well, can’t argue with that.” Davies said looking admiringly at Harry.

“Agreed, I stopped when I got injured, Harry kept going. Give him the spot.” Cho agreed. “If you don’t mind though, I’m gonna head to the hospital wing to have this looked at.”

“I’m with you.” Harry said and at Davies nod they headed off to see what Madam Pomfrey would have to say.

“Hey there Harry,” Hagrid called when they finally got down to visit him, “Hermione, Fred, George, Luna. Good ter see ya all. I’m just off to visit Norberta, wanna come along?”

“Norberta?” Fred asked.

“Yeah, turns out Norberts a girl.” Hagrid said with a blush. “Had the dragon handlers out over the summer, and they confirmed it. Made me feel a little silly at that. But he said it’s really hard to tell afore they get to about a year or two old.”

“Well, that’s okay then Hagrid.” Hermione said consolingly.

“Thank you Hermione, well, shall we get going then?” Without waiting for an answer Hagrid headed off down the path towards Norberta’s clearing.

The five friends looked at each other briefly and turned to follow the half giant.

Norberta was as prickly as ever, hunkered over a deer carcass she was chewing on. Though it was difficult to tell from Hagrid’s reaction. He started cooing over her as soon as they entered the clearing. “Ah, Norberta did you catch that all by yourself. That’s a good girl, where’s mummy?”

The dragon, which was now large enough to easily carry two or maybe even three of the teens, though still not quite big enough for Hagrid, snapped at the too big man.”Bless her, she still knows me.” Hagrid said tossing a parcel of dead weasels to the scaly beast.

“Hagrid,” Harry said getting the large man’s attention, “it’s actually helpful that we came out here today. I need a few drops of Norberta’s blood for a project. If you don’t mind helping.”

“Her blood Harry. I don’t know about that. It’s a bit dangerous to get blood from a dragon you know.”

“I know Hagrid, but it’s a really important project. Is there a way to make it safer?”

“Well, might be able to do it if she were asleep.” Hagrid said stroking his beard.

Perking up Harry reached into his pack. “I have some sleeping potion here.” He said, holding up a vial. “It’s one of the weaker varieties, wears off in a couple hours. Would that work?”

“It might, here let me throw it on the carcass and we’ll see if she goes for it.” Hagrid took the small vial and sprinkled it’s contents on the deer.

Settling down to see what happened the group fell into a lively discussion on dragons. It turned out Hagrid really knew a lot. He proudly stated that he’d been studying up on them, when Hermione mentioned it.

Eventually Norberta ate enough of the deer for the potion to take effect and she settled down to nap. Hagrid approached cautiously and after assuring himself that she was indeed asleep, collected a small vial of blood. “Here ya go then Harry. Hopefully you won’t need any more. I wouldn’t want to do that too often.”

“No this should be enough.” Harry said tucking the vial away in his pack. “Say, speaking of things you wouldn’t want to do too often. I just remembered, you mentioned something last year. When you were being arrested, about following spiders. What was that about? I never got around to it.”

“Oh, and you still figured it out anyway. Well that’s good. If you had followed them though, you could have met my friend Aragog. Had him since I was a student myself. Real nice he is, if you want ter meet him. There’s still enough daylight, we could go now. Only take about an hour to reach his nest.”

The friends looked at each other. Each of them debating the question for themselves. Luna begged off, but the others agreed. After a round of hugs and farewells for Luna they headed into the forest.

It did indeed take close to an hour to reach Aragog’s nest. And when they got there, Harry, Hermione, Fred, and George agreed that they should have gone with Luna.

Aragog turned out to be an acromantula. An enormous spider, roughly the size of a volkswagen beetle, and very old, it was graying, and several of its many eyes were cloudy, as though it were partially blind. And it was not alone, the nest covered a massive area, and hundreds of giant spiders crowded into the space.

The four clung to one another as Hagrid led them into the middle of the web covered ground and called for his many legged friends.

Fred whispered into the quiet space. ”It’s a really good thing Ron isn’t with us.”

George continued the thought. “He’s afraid of spiders.”

“I think I will be too after this.” Hermione squeaked at the twins.

Aragog descended slowly from a ball of webbing, and rested his legs by hanging from a line of web. “Hagrid.” It said when it was close enough to be heard without shouting. “How are you my old friend. What brings you to my nest this fine day.” It’s voice was creaky, matching its aged appearance. Although it was difficult to think of the creature as fragile or weak in any way, when it was flanked by a hundred or so of its children. At least Harry assumed they were Aragog’s children, according to the book, acromantula usually only nested in family groups.

“Aragog, it’s nice ter see ya. I wanted to introduce some friends of mine. I thought you might like to meet some other people willing to see you for who you are, rather than what you are.” He reached out and swept the four of them forward where Aragog could get a better look at them. They tried to remain still as the spider perused them.

“Hello, friends of Hagrid. What do you think of my nest?” It asked.

Hermione managed to respond first. “Very impressive sir.” She squeaked.

Harry recalled one of the details he had read about in Beasts Most Foul, the book Hagrid had recommended last year for information on the basilisk. Harry was glad he had read the whole thing now. Stepping forward he held his closed fists up to his chin and bowed slightly opening his arms to the sides fists pointing down. “What I find impressive webmaster Aragog, is the size of your family. Truly you are a great builder.” He was proud that only a small quaver entered his voice.

There was a great clicking sound all around them. Glancing about Harry saw that every spider near enough to hear the conversation was slapping its pincers together. From Aragog there came a sound like laughter from a throat that was never meant to laugh. “You have studied our ways, young wizard. That was well enough done, if a bit clumsy. Have you been coaching them Hagrid?”

“Err no, I didn’t ever know any of that.” Hagrid stammered out.

“It was in the book you told me about last year Hagrid.” Harry explained.

“Was it? I only ever read a bit of it myself. Had to learn a bit about bugbears, and chimera, for the game keeping job you see.”

It was fortunate that they were unable to stay long as the twins were all but rendered speechless by the many eyes, and legs, that surrounded them. And even Hermione could find very little to say. Harry managed to wrangle a deal with Aragog, by which he would bring the nest food, and they would trade him some shed hairs, and venom, which he knew would be useful in some of their potions experiments.

The walk back to the castle was nearly as quiet as the library. As it was growing dark, Hagrid was concentrating on the path, while the four friends were lost in their own thoughts.  
Eventually they made it back to Hagrid’s hut.

“Thanks for the introduction Hagrid. I doubt any of us will ever forget that.” Harry said giving his largest friend a quick hug.

“You’re welcome Harry. Sorry I didn’t think ter warn ya. I forget that not everyone is as accepting of interesting creatures as I am.”

“It’s alright Hagrid, we should have realised Aragog was likely to be a bit scary for the average person, with as far away from the castle as he lives.” Hermione answered quietly.

“Yeah, what Hermione said.” The twins chimed together. “But I think we’ll skip the next visit.”

Hagrid nodded at them and waved to the castle. “Alright, off you go then. It’s almost curfew, and you’ve got a bit of a walk to get back to yer dorms.”


	38. Chapter 38

“Oh, are we doing animagus today?” Harry asked when he entered the lab a few days later. He had been planning to start work on his paintball project. However as he opened the door, he caught sight of a pair of racoons sitting on the center table taunting a large brown poodle that was prowling around the edge, occasionally barking at the little bandits.

Then he saw the panda sitting in the corner, a big bear smile on its face. He recalled the last time he had seen Luna in her animal form. That had ended with him unable to do anything for hours. His mouth went dry as he thought back to that moment when he looked up to realize that Luna had been naked, sitting on his lap, and wrapped around him.

Slowly he looked around the lab hoping there was something to drink. On one of the side tables next to Luna there were several bottles of butterbeer. Gulping he walked over. He ignored the chattering racoons, and the poodle that strode past him.

Picking up an unopened bottle he tried to look at Luna out of the corner of his eye.

“Rawr.” Luna made a soft panda sound and reached over with one large paw to bat at the arm not holding the bottle.

“Hey Luna, you’re umm, not, uh.” Harry was having some difficulty articulating his thoughts.

The bears jaw opened and a soft chuffing noise emanated from her. It took Harry a moment to realize she was laughing. He scowled at her. “I’m sorry, it’s just, the last time.” He fell silent without completing his thought.

The panda waved at the other animals in the room, and then at Harry.

“Yeah, I guess it’s a good time to start practicing.” Harry said, assuming she was inviting him to join them. He settled down on the floor, took a long drink of the butterbeer, and began to concentrate. It took several minutes to find the focus and image he needed but he finally felt his hands beginning to change.

An hour later he had managed to change his hands twice, and his feet once, but the full change eluded him. He would need more practice, but he was at the point where he could safely practice once or twice a week. In another month or so he could bring that up to every other day, and sometime in November every day. By christmas if he was right, he should be able to manage the transformation with little more than a thought.

“Didn’t feel like joining us Harry?” Fred asked returning to his usual shape.

“Now Gred, you know Harry is too good to romp with us animals.” George answered his brother.

“Ignore them Harry.” Hermione said as she rose to her feet. “They just don’t want to think about how hard it will be for them to make the change without the potion when they get to that point.”

“Ouch Hermione.” Fred laughed.

“Yeah, maybe pull the teeth back a bit.” George added.

“It’s okay Hermione, Harry’s going to stomp on their brains in a moment.” Luna said airily. Harry hesitated for a moment before turning to look at her. He was being assaulted by the memory of her standing naked in front of him.

Fortunately she was fully clothed when he turned and he let out a little breath as he relaxed.

Smiling Luna bounced over and kissed his cheek, turning him a bright shade of red. She leaned up and whispered in his ear. “Maybe next time.” The twins had a glittering look in their eyes as he felt himself go even redder.

“What did you do Luna?” Hermione asked noting the shade of Harry’s face.

“I embarrassed him silly. It’s cute when he goes all red like that isn’t it?”

“Yes, but how did you embarrass him?”

“Oh, I told him he’s pretty when the wrackspurts are attacking him.”

Hermione blinked several times. “Umm, okay.”

Wanting to change the topic Harry turned to the twins. “Fred, George. I need some help with my paintball project.”

“Hmm, what do you need? And have you finished our boots yet?” Fred answered.

Pulling the boots from his pack he narrowed his eyes at the twins. “I think so, but we’ll need to add the potion and do some testing before we’ll know if I got it right.”

Grinning like loons the redheads grabbed the boots and began rubbing a thick greenish substance all over the soles. “So what did you need help with Harry-kins?”

“I think I have the basic design ready for prototyping, however I need some help with the potion balls. Do you think you two could dream up a way to make some prank potions that work by getting on your skin, or being breathed in, and put them into paintballs?”

George paused in his rubbing to think. He got a far off look in his eyes. “Hmm, I can think of a couple of ways to do that. It will take some testing though. Do you have a few paintballs we could use for comparison, and planning?”

“Sure.” Harry had to get his trunk out to get the bag of paintballs out. “Here, try to keep most of them as is though. I’ll need some for testing the gun later.”

“Sure thing Harry.” Fred said pulling out one of the balls and placing the bag onto one of the shelves. “We’ll just leave it here, then we both have it where we can get to it at need.”

The second meeting of the now not so muggle-born alliance, they were going to have to have a think on the name, was still held in the come and go room. Harry had a thought on a better location, however he was going to have to do some research on how to get everyone there without being obvious. As it was he doubted whether they had managed to have this meeting without being noticed. However the meeting itself wasn’t against any rules, and he was sure that they would be able to convince everyone to keep the content of the meeting quiet.

The large meeting room they had prepared for this event fairly rumbled with voices as the crowd chatted amiably with each other. Most were sharing what had been discussed in the first meeting. Harry was doing his best to identify as many of the students who had crowded into the room as he could. He was disappointed to realize that he couldn’t name even a tenth of the people in the room. Though he did recognize all of his roommates, every Gryffindor in his year, plus the Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and half of the Ravenclaw quidditch teams. He even noted three Slytherins from his year, two girls whose names he couldn’t recall, and one of the two boys who had been with Malfoy every time Harry had encountered the foul boy. All the Weasley’s who were at Hogwarts had of course shown up as well, but then with two of their brothers involved that was expected.

Since the group had already been warned about Harry’s involvement he got to go first on stage this time. As the noise began to taper off, and people moved to take the seats that had been set out, Harry stepped up to the waiting podium.

“Hello everyone, and thank you all for coming.”

There was a rumble as several people responded and a few waved.

“Most of you know why we are here this evening, but I’d guess that a few of you were invited by friends and not informed of the specifics. Percy Weasley you may notice,” he paused to point out the young man in question who was making his way around the room, with a parchment, “has agreed to help with making sure that what we discuss tonight stays between us. The parchment he is carrying has a minor jinx upon it. It will remind you that you have agreed to keep the secret if you are about to reveal it. Regrettably there is no one here strong enough to place a compulsion to prevent sharing the secret with us yet. However this should be enough. As I said the jinx, which will activate when you sign the parchment will warn you if you are getting too close to revealing what we discuss here tonight. Please, for everyone’s peace of mind, when Percy reaches you, sign the parchment. If you look at the top of the list, you’ll see that I have already done so, as have the other coordinators for the evening.”

“In a few minutes I’m going to show you a few images. You’re muggle-born friends have already seen these, so feel free to discuss it with them later. Some of these images are a little disturbing, I apologize for that. However I feel that it is important for you to see for yourselves.”

“There is a problem at the heart of the magical world. Some would say that problem is the pureblood prejudice. I say the prejudice is a symptom, not the problem. Those who preach that prejudice will happily tell you that the problem is muggle influence. They do this while willfully ignoring the muggle influence they gladly embrace, such as the designs for their own homes. Still others would say that the problem is a lack of inclusion, but again, that is a symptom. The problem, as I see it, is a pervasive desire to cling so hard to a past which is no longer relevant that no room for a future is left.”

“I say the past is no longer relevant, for the simple reason that the problems of the past no longer exist. The concerns of yesterday, have been solved, yet as a society, we have done nothing to address the concerns of today. Part of the reason for this is the fear of those who wish to drag us backward into a time when it was often unsafe to visit family in other towns due to the dangers of travel.”

“Those dangers no longer exist, and with the advancement of various means of magical travel even if such dangers did exist they would be easily ignored. Yet there are those who pretend that the non-magical world remains as dangerous to us as it was five hundred years ago.”

“For those of you who have little or no connection with the non-magical world, I can tell you that the average muggle no longer believes that magic exists. Your muggle-born friends can tell you that most muggles require a good amount of proof before they accept that magic is real. Some of them, myself included, can tell you stories of how we ourselves did not believe we were magical until some proof had been given. A person like that is not going to come hunting us down unless they are given a very good reason.”

“Yet many within our society still cling like frightened children to the claims of psychotic madmen that the witchburnings that ended more than four hundred years ago, are right around the corner.”

“We, the young, the hopeful, the visionaries of the future, have an opportunity to fix the problem. Together, we have the power, the knowledge, and most importantly the will to set right the problems in our society. No one of us can do it alone, only by working together can we build a future that we can be proud of. No one of us has the vision to build a future for all of us, only together can we determine the path that will lead us all to a future worth sharing.”

As he spoke, he watched the crowd. He could see that most people were nodding, listening raptly. “I’m going to show you now the greatest threat to our shared future. A threat we will need to eliminate. It will not be easy, and it will not be quick, but together we can do it.”

Stepping down from the podium he tapped the projector and began the short replay he had prepared. It wasn’t the full memories he had shown the family, or even the slightly shortened versions he had shown the muggle-born. Rather it was a highly shortened version containing a few clips of certain events. The face on the back of Quirrell’s head proclaiming itself to be Voldemort. The memory of Tom Riddle claiming the diary could bring him back. And Lucius Malfoy stating that Voldemort wasn’t dead, and that there were items that could bring him back.

Retaking the podium Harry raised a hand for quiet. “I know, I know. Disturbing images.”

Someone yelled out. “That madman is still alive?” Harry was startled when the crowd parted he could see that it was Malfoy’s friend that had spoken.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know everyone’s name yet. Which in your case is particularly rude, as we share a few classes, I apologize for that. Yes, he is still alive, and still stuck on his agenda as far as I can tell. Given that he has multiple methods available to him to acquire a new body, and at least a few followers who avoided prison, it is likely that he will succeed, eventually. That could be tomorrow, or it could be a few years. Either way, it is up to us, those who know of it, to prepare for that day. To be ready when it comes, so that he won’t be able to make a second grab at our world.”

Looking around again to gauge the mood of the room, Harry was surprised to feel a tap on his elbow. It was Hermione, who was motioning to the small time display on the podium. “Oh right, we have curfew eventually. And there are a few others here with things to say. So I’m going to turn the stage over.” He stepped aside and Hermione took his place.

Hermione stepped up and introduced herself before launching into her speech. “Does anyone know how the Romans managed to conquer most of the known world?” There were a few raised hands, but most of the room held blank faces. “So, not many. Well, the quick explanation is that they trained their soldiers as a team. They worked together. So that’s what we will do. We will work on everyone’s individual abilities yes, but we will also work on teamwork. How to support each other, and keep each other safe. In order for the death eaters to win, they have to beat all of us. If they can do like they did last time, and come after us one at a time. It will be easy for them. So we’ll make it hard for them. By sticking together.”

She looked out and saw people nodding. “Also, we’re going to practice some, let’s call them unusual tactics. Largely supplied by our very own, Weasley twins.” There was a collective groan from the sea of students as the mentioned redheads stepped up to the podium.

“Hey, we heard that.” Fred said to the crowd. George smiled mischievously, opened his mouth and gestured to his brother. Who continued. “Just this once we’ve agreed to forego our usual manners. As many of you are well aware, we’ve been coming up with pranks for years. And we haven’t restricted ourselves to just what’s on the shelves at Zonko's. We’ve actually invented a fair few, and we plan to continue that practice. However, we have begun work on a few items, that will help us deal with the death nibblers, and their dork lord moldy farts.” Gasps were heard through the room, followed by a few giggles, but Fred simply kept going. “I know everyone is scared. I know that, because we’re scared. These people torture and murder anyone who gets in their way. And we are planning to get in their way. So it behooves us to plan accordingly. So we’ve come up with a few ideas to help protect everyone. For example.” The two stepped back from the podium and took position a few steps away from each other. George drew his wand and threw it to one side. Fred drew his own and leveled it at his brother.

George spoke so the room could hear. “This is a situation most who have fought have found themselves in. In a proper duel, I would have lost, and the fight would be over.”

Fred picked up the line. “Against a death nibbler, George is now in real trouble. He needs to do something, he needs a way out.”

“And I need it now.” George took back over. He nodded to Fred.

Everyone was on the edge of their seats now. Even Harry, who had no idea they were planning something like this was wondering what would happen next. Fred lifted his wand and cried, “crucio.”

Harry thought he could have read a book using the light reflected from the whites of widened eyes in the room. Fred Weasley had just cast an unforgivable against his own brother. Except George wasn’t screaming.

As the red light of the torture curse hurtled across the space between them, George was pulling something from his pocket. It was a small, yellow something. He tossed it up between himself and the incoming curse. As it left his hand it began to expand, larger and larger it grew until it nearly filled the space between Fred and George. The curse struck the poor rubber duck which wobbled and let out a loud quack. It then shook violently and began to roll towards Fred.  
Fred took off around the room, with a giant rubber duck chasing him as George returned to the podium.

“As you can see,” he motioned to his brother who was rounding the first set of seats, “the death ducky is a useful tool. Just throw it between yourself and any spell you don’t want to hit you, and it will absorb it. It then follows the magic back and attempts to pin the caster down. It doesn’t last long, a minute or so depending on what spell hits it. The nastier the spell, the longer it lasts. Not power, but effect. Fred is going to be avoiding capture for about a minute and a half.” There was a loud thud and a squeak from the back of the room, someone yelled oops. “Or he’ll be underneath it for a bit. The point is, it looks harmless. But used correctly, it will save your life, or a friends life, even if you’ve lost your wand. And as you saw, because it is a physical object it will stop even the unforgivables. We have some other ideas as well. That’s just the one we got working before today. We’ll let you know when we have more.”

George gave a little bow to the audience and stepped back, allowing the first surprise speaker of the evening to step up.

Soft brown hair, hiding a few wisps of grey, topping a scarred face. Professor Remus Lupin stepped up to the podium. “Good afternoon everyone.” He said in his mild voice, smiling out at the gathered students. “I’m pleased to see so many of you here tonight. I can confirm that this will be a worthwhile endeavor for all of you. Now you are likely thinking that I will be teaching you dueling, or advanced defensive magic. However while I am the defense against the dark arts teacher, that is not my only skill. While I will be teaching you all some advanced magic, Harry has requested that you all be taught the patronus charm which will defend you against the dementors should you ever need it, my primary goal will be to instruct you in tactics, and group combat. I will also be available to assist any who wish it in finding their own talents, and the means to improve in their chosen fields. I will help you to make contacts within the larger wizarding world. For example those of you interested in becoming healers. By making contact with some of the healers at St. Mungos you will learn about how the clinic runs, and what they expect, beyond test results, in new healers, as well as have a foot in the door when they are deciding who to hire. The same is true for all professions that you might wish to pursue. While I certainly don’t know everyone in the magical world I can help you to find out who to talk to, and what to say when you do to get the results you want. I look forward to working with all of you.” He sent another warm smile across the crowd as he stepped down.

Harry returned to the podium. “We have one other professor here this evening, and he will be joining us shortly. Ahh, here he is.” He turned to greet a tiny man that everyone in the room knew.

Professor Filius Flitwick conjured a stool and took the podium. “Hello everyone.” He said in his squeaky voice. “No doubt many of you are wondering what I might be here for. Well, rather than talk your ears off, how about I demonstrate.” And he hopped down from the podium. A wave of his wand and the stage cleared of clutter. A raised hand motioned to Harry.

Harry gulped and stepped up to the stage. He thought he knew what was coming.

Another wave of Flitwick’s wand placed a large mirror above them, giving everyone in the room a view of what was happening on the stage. “Are you ready Harry?”

“I guess so, at least I’m not as rusty as I was at the beginning of term.”

Filius chuckled. “Miss Granger would you be so kind as to say go?”

Hermione looked at the professor aghast. “Umm, yes sir. Umm, go.”

Before the word finished both Harry and Filius were in motion. Bright flashes of light shot between them, barely missing as they dove and rolled across the stage. A collective gasp went through the crowd as they realized that Harry was casting without word, or pause in many instances. Many people began whispering that professor Flitwick was a dueling champion, and that somehow Potter was keeping up with him.

The duel lasted a mere four minutes before Filius was offering Harry his wand with a bow. Harry returned a deep bow and congratulations in an odd grunting language only a few in the crowd recognized as gobbledygook. The two smiled and shook hands before Flitwick returned the stage to its previous state and stepped back up to the podium.

“As many of you know, I was a dueling champion in my youth. And that is what I am here for. I have been training mister Potter for a little over a year now. And he is very talented, some of you may be as well, but regardless of where your talents are you can always improve, and I will be helping you to do so.” With a nod he stepped away from the podium and motioned for Harry to take his place.

“Let's have a round of applause for professors Lupin and Flitwick.” Harry said as he reached the podium. A moment passed as everyone registered what he had said, then the room exploded with clapping, cheering, and a few catcalls. When it tapered off he continued. “Thank you professor’s thank you both very much. Alright, we’ve nearly reached the end of the planned speech part of the evening. I’ll answer a few questions and then we have some refreshments and time to mingle and meet each other properly. I have only one remaining thing to say. In public, some of us need to maintain an image. Whatever that image is, it behooves us all to help each other to do so. In particular, our Slytherin friends may face problems in their common rooms if their association with us becomes known, am I correct in that thinking?” He motioned to the Slytherin students. 

One of the girls stood and spoke clearly. “As much as we would prefer otherwise, yes, you are correct. There are a few others who might be willing to join your group, however they want to be sure they won’t be hexed in their beds first.” She sent a small glare at Harry, to which he raised an eyebrow.

“So, we need to protect each other. And sometimes that means stepping back, and not allowing the wrong people to find out about our connection. So if you run into one our Slytherin friends in the hall, or classes. Remember that they know their situation better than any of us ever will, and allow them to set the tone for whatever is said. And remember that they may need to play the part of a bully in order to stay safe within their house. Try to remember that as we move forward. Okay, a few questions now, umm, you.”

The questions were much the same as the first meeting, and answered quickly. Mingling was rather fun, and Harry found that he became interested in the lives of his fellow students more quickly than he had expected.


	39. Chapter 39

The next few weeks passed in a buzz of activity. Classes were much the same as ever, with the change that Harry was attending defence this year. Which was proving to be great fun. Professor Lupin had a way of making learning enjoyable, and most students found themselves laughing during his classes.

He had his map finished, although connecting it to the wards so that it would display where people were was eluding him. The enchantments on the paintball gun were ready, he just had to wait for the twins to get the potion balls ready for testing. And he had completed the rings for the rest of his close friends. His own had twisted into a snake wrapped around his finger with a badger head snarling outwardly. The eyes of both the snake and badger held emeralds that glowed with a fiery inner light.

Hermione had finally gotten around to brewing the familiar potion and sharing it with her bandy legged ginger cat Crookshanks. Afterward the cat joined them in their lab quite often, and occasionally wrestled with Loki, or stalked Azure. The twins had become intrigued, but hadn’t decided yet on a familiar.

They played their second prank of the year early in the month of October. A potion was added to everyone's drinks that caused them to break out in song for the whole day. That day had been great fun for most people, as they got to enjoy the teachers belting out their lectures like opera singers, or in the case of Mcgonagall, for one giggly second year class, rapping. Snape was reportedly in a foul mood for the day, and refused to open his mouth. Rumour had it that he had delivered his first class of the day in a high pitched childrens song, and had refused to say anything for the rest of the day because of it.

However as Halloween approached Harry found himself in an increasingly bad mood. He was thinking of his parents, normal for this time of year now, and while he wanted to celebrate the season with the rest of the students, he was getting snippy with everyone and felt it would be better if he avoided the frivolity. Thus once again he had asked Flitwick for permission to skip the feast, and once more Flitwick had approved. The surprise this year was that Luna had also requested to skip the feast in order to lead Harry in a ritual. Flitwick had clearly been holding in a cheer when Luna explained that she wanted to perform an old celtic ritual for contacting one’s ancestors. He agreed immediately and on the way back to the common room Harry had asked quietly if this ritual was performed skyclad. It was not, he thanked everything he could think of, but did call for special ritual garb which they would have to transfigure when it was time.

The ritual being best performed at sunset they left the tower quite early and headed for the come and go room.

For the ritual Luna had asked the room for a space open to the sky. Mainly so they could be sure of the timing, but also because she liked the view. They dressed in simple white robes, each carrying a small cord along with their wands.

Harry was intrigued by the ritual, which they went over three times before they started to be sure he had it memorized completely.

It began with a chant just before sunset, so that they would reach a certain point in the chant when the sun dipped below the horizon. The cord was wrapped around their wrists at a certain point. Something to do with a connection to the realm of the dead that Harry didn’t quite understand. More chanting for about fifteen minutes after sunset. When they had finished Harry was a bit tired but mostly disappointed. The ritual was meant to summon the spirits of his ancestors, or Luna’s maybe. But none had shown.

Luna confided that it had never brought forth any of her ancestors either, but that Xeno had insisted they try every year anyway. And that she found comfort in the attempt. Harry thanked her quietly and they changed the room back to the lab and settled down to work on the map.

Fred and George had lent Harry the original marauders map for the evening, so he could study it’s connection to the wards. He still hadn’t figured out how to connect his own map, and was hoping that by studying the original he might discover something about the process that he had missed.

As he and Luna were pouring over the map however they were soon distracted by a figure moving along a hall on the fourth floor. Sirius Black had appeared in the castle and seemed to be heading for the grand staircase.

Harry and Luna shared a look and bolted for the door.

In the great hall the feast was going well. Students and teachers alike were laughing and chatting amiably. They had reached pudding when something disturbed the meal.

There was a flash of flames at the Gryffindor table. A phoenix had appeared between the Weasley twins and Hermione Granger. A few moments later, all four vanished from the hall.

Within seconds the phoenix had returned, this time at the head table, in front of Remus Lupin.

The Headmaster was at a loss to explain what was happening, he knew this wasn’t Fawkes, but beyond that he had no idea.

The bird grabbed both Professor Lupin and professor Flitwick, and vanished once more. The great hall was in an uproar. Still unsure of what was happening Dumbledore rose to address the room.

In a girls bathroom on the second floor three students and two professors were looking around curiously, wondering why they had been brought here. Harry and Luna stepped out of the stall they had been hiding in.

Harry gave the gathered persons a slightly fearful look. “Umm, something happened and we need your help professors. We thought you guys deserved to be part of this too, so we asked Azure to bring you along.” He stopped and took a deep breath, clearly trying to calm himself before he continued. “Okay, just follow, I’ll explain when we get there.”

The twins looked excited, while Hermione was biting her lip. The professors just looked confused. As Harry walked over to one of the sinks and hissed at it.

There was a rumbling and the sink fell away into the floor revealing a large hole into which Harry jumped.

“It’s a fun ride down.” Luna said dreamily as she too disappeared into the hole.

Fred and George shared a look and raced for the opening. George won and leapt in. Fred turned and spoke to the bewildered professors. “It’s a bit slimy, but you’ll be glad you came.” And he too vanished down the wet tube.

“Don’t worry professors, the only actual danger is the smell. And even that isn’t too bad. I don’t know what’s going on, but if Harry’s taking us down there. It’s something really important.” And she stepped daintily into the opening, a soft scream following her descent.

Lupin and Flitwick looked at each other and shrugged. “After you?” They said together, then laughed. “I insist.” They again said simultaneously waving to the opening. 

Flitwick nodded and took the plunge. A moment later the bathroom was empty and a sink rose back into place.

Far below hogwarts main castle, in a cave that had served as the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets for centuries, a young man stood waiting to see who would follow him. Several long moments passed before he was joined by his four closest friends. Several more passed in silence as they waited to see if the professors would join them.

When the teachers made their appearance the group began to make its way through the cave. Harry explaining what had happened. Until he got to why they were down here. Then his mind flooded with an image that shorted his brain and he tripped over his own feet, barely noticing that he had fallen face first onto the stone floor.

They followed Black through the halls of Hogwarts. The map allowed them to keep an eye on him easily while running as fast as they could. What was odd was that he seemed to be headed for Gryffindor tower, but then given that he had been in prison for years they guessed that he didn’t know Harry was in Ravenclaw.

They were able to cut him off as they had been closer to his destination than he was when they spotted him. However when they got to where they knew he was all they found was a big black dog. Moreover, a big black dog that Harry recognized.

Luckily while Harry had frozen at the sight of the dog, Luna remembered to act. A flash of red light and the dog was lying on the ground unconscious.

A little encouragement got Harry moving and they brought the dog down here to the Chamber where they could question him in peace. Though first they had needed to grab a few books from Harry’s library and find the spell to return an animagus to their human form.

Once they had Black in his human form they secured him to a chair, with both ropes and sticking charms. But before Luna woke him Harry stopped her.

“I, I need a minute Luna. I’m too scrambled, I need to calm down.” He strode away from Black until he couldn’t see the man, Luna following. He paced up and down the side of the chamber, silently ranting, occasionally reaching up to pull at his hair.

Unseen by Harry Luna watched, a worried expression filling her eyes. After a few moments she nodded and reached for the clasp of her robes.

“Harry,” unfortunately Harry wasn’t paying much attention, “Harry!” She yelled at him. This time he heard and turned towards her. “Look at these.” She said pointing to her breasts.

Naked girl, naked girl, naked Luna. Once again, Harry’s mind was blanking out at the sight of Luna, completely naked and pointing to her own breasts. “Come on Harry, calm down.” Harry wasn’t sure where the voice had come from, but it sounded like good advice.

Smirking Luna nodded again. She had gotten Harry’s attention off of Black. Now he would be able to calm down and think rationally. She turned and bent to pick her robes up.

Harry watched, barely blinking, as the totally distracting vision of perfection in front of him turned. Her back wasn’t quite as lovely as her front, but still as his eyes floated downwards he caught sight of two glorious globes of milky white flesh. Slightly mounded and pressed together in a most intriguing manner. Then she bent at the hips and the view changed. The globes pressed upward, the legs seemed to extend, growing longer. And between them.

Slowly, so very slowly, Harry drifted up from the darkness of sleep. He couldn’t recall where he was, or what had happened. Only that something important had happened, and then he was here. Wherever here was. He felt something, a hand he thought, on his temples. Something was odd about that. Shouldn’t he be worried, someone was close, touching him, and he was unable to defend himself. But he felt no danger from the hand that was now drifting through his hair. He was safe. He came up further, he was almost back to reality now. He could hear something, soft, a voice, gently singing, something. He couldn’t make out the words, only the melody, which was gentle, rocking, a lullaby maybe.

He allowed himself to float in this wonderful in between place, the dark was comforting, and he could feel that he was held close by someone who cared. Fingers stroking through his hair, and a lullaby sung for him. It was everything he had ever wished for in his cupboard. All the years he had spent locked in that horrible place. He didn’t want to leave.

The fingers were insistent though, the voice unrelenting. It wasn’t really a lullaby, just a soft tune. When he opened his eyes he looked up into a pair of silver orbs smiling down at him. “Luna?” He whispered.

“I’m here Harry. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to slap you with so many wrackspurts. I just wanted to distract you long enough to clear your head. Are you feeling better now?” There was concern in her eyes that helped Harry pull himself the rest of the way out of the fugue.

Sitting up he turned to hug her gently. “I’m better now Luna, thank you. Maybe a little less surprise next time though.” She nodded. “Okay, let’s go question a criminal” Harry offered his hand as he stood and pulled Luna to her feet. Together they strode towards the dog man strapped to a chair.

“Well, what did you find out?” Fred yelled into the silence that followed when Luna stopped speaking.

Harry responded. “We want you to hear it for yourselves. He’s only a little further on this way.”  
There was grumbling from the others as they made their way through the tunnel, but Harry remained silent.

The grumbling stopped when they passed the shed skin lying in the cave. Fred had stopped to look at it and scratched his chin thoughtfully. Lupin stepped up beside him, then bent down to touch the skin.

“Is this, basilisk skin.” Lupin asked standing abruptly.

“Yeah,” George answered. “We killed the thing last year, but we forgot about this being here. What are you thinking Fred.”

“We have a fair amount of skin, enough for what we want to do with it. We could probably sell this. But where’s the rest?”

“The rest?” Hermione asked. Before anyone answered though she went pale and covered a gasp.

“You got it Hermione. This skin is only about twenty feet long. But the one we killed was almost sixty feet. If basilisks shed as often as normal snakes there should be a lot more skin.”

“They do.” Lupin answered the unasked question. “I agree there should be a lot more shed skin.”

“We’ll have to do another search of the chamber. Maybe behind the statue.” Harry said, coming back to where they had stopped. “We never did try to get behind it, even after we learned that the basilisk had been back there to begin with.”

The twins were grinning and nodding. Hermione however decided to keep them on track. “That’s great Harry, and I agree we should do that. However we need to question Black right now.”

“Right.” Harry turned to lead the way once more. The group following in his wake.

Sirius was sat at a small table halfway through the meal Harry and Luna had set for him.

“He ate quick.” Luna remarked as they approached the table.

Looking up Black’s eyes filled with tears. “Cub, this is amazing. Thank you again.” His eyes then roved over the rest of the group and stopped on Lupin. “Moony, you came. Did he tell you?”

“I, what?” Lupin shared a confused look with Flitwick.

“Stop.” Harry yelled. He held up a small vial and looked a question at Black. At his nod Harry continued. “To save time we will dose him with veritaserum again, so no one can argue about his honesty. Sirius, open up.” Sirius sat back in his seat and stuck his tongue out. “One, two, three.” He dripped the liquid onto Black’s tongue. “Alright, I’ve already heard everything so I’m going to check out the statue. Call me when you’re done.”

“A moment, Mister Potter. Where did you get the veritaserum? It is illegal to sell it.” Flitwick asked before Harry could leave.

“I made it professor.”

A stunned silence followed this and as Harry turned to walk away Flitwick coughed. “Harry, most master brewers can’t make veritaserum. Are you sure you got it right?”

“He got it right, I can attest to that. James and I used to play a truth or consequences game with the stuff, and I can tell you that Harry’s is better than what we used.” Black’s blank voice rose from the table, catching everyone’s attention.

“There you go, a better answer than I could have given.” Harry said.

“Mister Potter,” when Harry turned to look at the tiny professor, he continued, “I will arrange for you to have access to the advanced potions theory books in the restricted section. You will be taking the potions O.W.L. this year, and in all likelihood the N.E.W.T. next year. If you can make veritaserum, even from a recipe, then you can pass the practical for both.”

The stunned look on Harry’s face told everyone that he was almost as gobsmacked as he had been when Luna stood naked in front of him. It seemed to take hours for him to find enough brain cells to answer. “Thank you professor, I, thank you.” Overcome with emotion, he found himself unable to speak further, so instead he gave a little bow and quickly left for the statue.

He was joined by George a few moments later as he began trying passwords.

“Fred is going to stay and listen to the questioning, I was volunteered to keep you company. Mostly to share a thought we had. This place is huge, and with a few expansion charms, and some transfiguration, we could add rooms. Make this into a proper training place, maybe set up some brewing labs.”

Finally Harry stopped hissing at the statue and looked at George. “That’s brilliant George. We’d need to do some cleaning too, and I think everyone would appreciate if we change the entrance. Something else to research, hopefully it won’t be too difficult.”

“We’ll help Harry, you know you don’t have to do it alone.”

Smiling Harry laid a hand on George’s shoulder. “I know George, thanks.” Turning back to the statue he scrunched up his eyes for a moment and returned to hissing as George began pacing. Ten minutes later a door opened at the feet of the statue and a bridge flowed across the small pond.

“Nice Harry, what was the password?”

“Give entrance to the heir.” Harry responded shaking his head. “I wonder if that was what Slytherin set up, or if one of his descendents did it.”

“Who can say. Shall we?” George waved to the open door.

Inside there was a small sitting room, with a large bed in one corner, a writing desk, and a wardrobe. George opened the wardrobe which was empty, while Harry went to the desk. It too was empty except for a set of three books, a note leaned against them. These will help, was all the note said. Looking over the books Harry was excited to read the titles. Understanding Your Gift, he recognized, it was a book written by Slytherin himself on parseltongue. A book Harry had a copy of in his library. The other two he thought must be more advanced writings on the subject. Checking the titles he became more sure. Using Your Gift, and The Power of Your Gift. Yes surely these were all about parseltongue. And might even include instructions on how to move the entrance to the chamber. He would read them thoroughly later, they were fairly slim volumes after all.

Meanwhile, George had found a hidden door behind the wardrobe that he was trying to open. After a minute or so of fruitless effort he called for Harry. “Oi, come help. See if parseltongue works.”

Looking up Harry narrowed his eyes at the door and hissed “open.” The door jerked out of George’s hand and opened a few inches. Sticking his head through, George lit his wand. “Harry, come look at this.”

Harry finally turned away from the books, which had stubbornly refused to move more than a couple feet from the desk, to see what George had found.

The sight that met his eyes when he looked through the door nearly sent him to the floor again. Piles of skin almost as high as the main chamber, and stretching back further than the light from the wand could reach. At twenty galleons a foot, none of them would ever want for money again. But then a different thought occurred to Harry, it would take a lot of work, and he wouldn’t be able to do it alone, but if they could manage it.

“We should get the others.” Harry said turning to George.

“Agreed.” George said hollowly. Together they returned to the group questioning Black.

As they approached the small table Harry explained that Black was innocent of any crime, unless you counted escaping Azkaban, and that Peter Pettigrew was still alive, and in Gryffindor tower. They got back just in time for the veritaserum to wear off. Lupin looked outraged.

“We have to get the rat. I’ll rip him to pieces.” Lupin was almost screaming.

“Remus.” Harry screamed at the wild man. When he turned to Harry, the green eyed one continued. “We need Peter alive, so we can clear Sirius. Take the map, call the aurors, let them catch the rat. Once they have Peter in custody Sirius agreed to turn himself in, so he can be cleared. Please Remus, stay calm.”

Slowly, the rage left the werewolf’s eyes and the man let out a long breath. “Thank you Harry, you’re right of course. Are you sure about the map though. It might be confiscated if anyone else sees it.”

Pulling out his own map Harry waved it. “The first question I asked was how to get my map to connect. I know how to do it now, and with Sirius’ help I can do it tonight. Of course, I trust you not to get the original confiscated, so that doesn’t really matter.” He smirked at the professor, who also had a grin spreading across his face.

“Okay, you all stay here just in case things go badly. I’ll be back as soon as I can. Umm, how do I get back up to the school?”

“Oh, that’s me.” Luna sat up cheerily. “Azure.” The bright bird appeared in a flash on Luna’s shoulder. Stroking his feathers she spoke softly to the fiery bird, who cooed softly and flew over to sit on Remus shoulder. 

Trilling loudly the two disappeared in a burst of flame.

“Professor Flitwick, would you be willing to help us with a little project?” Harry asked the small man.”

“Of course Harry, what did you have in mind?”

“George had a great idea for using this Chamber for our alliance. We’ll need to do a lot of cleaning, and I think some redecorating as well, to get it ready though.”

“Ooh, that sounds like fun, might we also want to change the entrance though?”

“Yes, but we’ll need to do some research to figure out how. Unless you know how to get the school to move things where you want them to be.”

“Hmm, unfortunately no, I don’t. Very well then, we’ll start with what we do know how to do. Shall we?” He motioned to the group. “Mister Black, will you be joining us?”

“Uhh, I’d love to.” Sirius said in a voice that was only slightly croaky now that he had been able to eat and drink.

Four hours later Remus reappeared in the chamber in a burst of flame. “We got him.” He called as soon as he was fully present. Fred and George were the only ones in the chamber, as the others were in other areas working on different things.

In the corner where Fred and George were standing an area had been marked off into a few sections with several large red X’s on the floor, and a few targets set against the wall.   
As Remus walked over to them Fred looked up and explained. “Dueling training area. The X’s will be where dummies are set up, and the target’s are for accuracy practice. Not sure where we’re going to get the dummies yet, but we’ll figure that out later. George, you wanna grab Harry.” He jerked his thumb towards the entrance where Harry, Sirius, and Filius had set off. “I’ll get Hermione and Luna. Come on professor, you’ll like this I think.”

Lupin was indeed impressed with the pile of basilisk skin and promptly launched into an explanation. “Basilisk’s do shed just like any other snake. Every half an inch of growth at first, might be up to a few inches at this size, but still. That would be anywhere from 6 to 24 sheddings for every foot of growth. At sixty feet, that’s a lot of shed skin. In a normal burrow, the young would eat the old skin before being allowed out to hunt on their own, but there being no young here, and the basilisk being magical the skin would just stay until something carries it away. What are you planning to do with it?”

“Harry has an idea, but he hasn’t told us yet. For now we’re just rolling it up in transfigured canvas so we can get an idea of just how big this chamber is, and start thinking about what we’re going to do with it.” Hermione answered him.

“How’s it going?” Harry called as he entered the room.

“Almost done Harry.” Luna answered him, her dreamy expression back in place now that the excitement was mostly over.

“Moony, how did it go with the aurors?” Sirius asked as he caught up with Harry.

Smiling, Remus approached Sirius with arms open wide. Chuckling Sirius joined his friend in a brotherly embrace. “It went perfect Padfoot. The aurors had no trouble collecting Peter, a few questions and they were convinced. What took so long was when they called for Amelia to remove the kiss on sight order from the dementors.”

“Amelia?” Sirius asked. “You don’t mean Bones do you?”

“Yeah, she’s the head of the DMLE now.” Sirius had a look as though he had just been slapped with a trout. “You’ve been gone a long time Pads.” Remus said sadly. “When she came through, Fudge was with her. Apparently they were in the middle of a discussion about what to do about you when the call went through. It took forever to convince him that it would look better for the ministry to admit the truth, than to cover it up. The man’s a fool.”

“Agreed, but did you say that it’s all taken care of now? Do we need to get Black up there?” Professor Flitwick’s squeaky voice asked.

“Yes, yes we do. They won’t leave until they have you as well Sirius.”

Sirius nodded gravely and turned to Harry, opening his arms. The messy haired boy threw himself into his godfathers embrace. “Don’t worry cub, I’ll be back before you know it. You take care of your friends, and prank someone for me.”

“Anyone in particular?” Harry asked.

“Snivellus if you can. If not anyone who deserves it.”

Harry chuckled. “I’ll see what I can do.”

Sirius bade goodbye to the others before he and Remus flashed off to meet the Aurors.

“We should be calling it a night as well.” Filius said into the silence that followed their departure. “While there are no classes tomorrow, it is well past curfew. I will make myself available tomorrow after one p.m. to continue turning this place into something we can use. But I really must insist that we all get to bed for tonight.”

With only a few grumbles they all agreed and turned to leave.


	40. Chapter 40

Two days passed, Harry was getting worried as he had not heard from Sirius. Everyone in the know however reminded him that the bureaucracy in the ministry was slow, and that it would take time to get together a trial, and hear all the testimony etc. So he was doing his best to hold in his mounting panic. Fortunately the Chamber needed a lot of work to get ready for use.

Breakfast was passing with its usual flair, but was interrupted by a paper handed to him by Hermione. The twins plopping into seats next to them.

“What’s up Hermione?” Harry asked unfolding the paper.

“Just read.” Hermione said, holding her face as blank as she could.

One eyebrow cocked he read over the headline. One fugitive escapes custody, another kissed.  
Confused, he read the article. 

The criminal Sirius Black was apprehended at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, late on the evening of Halloween.

Along with the capture of Black, a second person was also taken into custody. It is believed that this person, whose name has not yet been released was aiding Black in his attempt to get to Harry Potter.

Unfortunately something went wrong when Black was handed over to the dementors. You may recall that there is a long standing law that any person who escapes from Azkaban is automatically subject to the dementors kiss when caught. This law has never been enforced, as no one has previously escaped from Azkaban, Black being the first. As a result Black was handed to the dementors as soon as it was possible to do so.

However as mentioned something went wrong at this point. There was apparently some sort of confusion, and in the process the second person was able to escape. No word is currently available as to the whereabouts of this person, however as the dementors have not yet been removed from Hogwarts it is assumed that the person is still in the vicinity and perhaps, like Black, is after Harry Potter.

We at the daily prophet are pleased that the ministry is taking such action to insure the safety of our children.

As Harry finished reading he looked up confused. “But, how. I don’t.”

“I’m not sure Harry.” Hermione spoke slowly, as though she was having trouble formulating her own thoughts on the matter. “It’s possible that the details got reported wrong.”

Fred opened his mouth about to say something when he was interrupted by someone yelling something across the great hall.

“Too bad Potter, they got him. Now you can’t get revenge for yourself. But at least you don’t have to worry about Black coming for you anymore.” It was Malfoy and Hermione was terrified to see Harry’s eyes go flat.

When Harry started to rise from his seat, she motioned to the twins who nodded and grabbed him under each arm, lifting him off the ground. Luna and Hermione took up positions in front and behind. Together they marched Harry out of the great hall and outside to the lake, ignoring the calls and jibes of Malfoy and his cronies.

Unfortunately they forgot that they had classes this morning, and before they had gotten Harry talking Hagrid had come by and reminded them that they needed to get going if they were going to be on time.

Harry suffered through his first class but was unable to concentrate. When the first break came he made his way to the hospital wing.

“Good morning mister Potter, what seems to be the problem?” Asked Madam Pomfrey as he strode into the infirmary and hopped up onto one of the beds.

Still unable to formulate words he wrenched his face through several emotions before she got the hint and performed a diagnostic. “Oh my, that is a lot of shock. Wait here.” She hurried over to her potions cupboard and returned quickly with a dark pink potion. “Strong calming draft, drink up.” Tilting his head back, Harry swallowed the potion in one go, barely even noticing the taste.   
“Yes, that’s a bad shock. You are relieved from classes for today mister Potter. Normally I would have you stay here, except you’re not in any danger, so if you want to go elsewhere you may. I will ask that you take it easy, you may work on homework if you like, but if it gets stressful, please do something else.”

Harry nodded and stood, on an impulse, he reached out to offer his hand to the matron. Smiling she took his hand and he bent to kiss her knuckles. Nodding again as though to say thank you, despite the lack of words, he turned to go. A little stunned, Madam Pomfrey simply watched him leave.

Harry spent the rest of that day in the Chamber. Reading the slender books left by Salazar Slytherin to instruct his heirs on how to use the Chamber. Volumes he was sure Tom Riddle had never found. He was able to shift the entrance, and add a ward that would make it difficult, for anyone they didn’t want here, to enter.

Once that was done, he got to work on his answer to Malfoy.

Getting into the Slytherin common room proved to be simple. Parseltongue had the door open with a word, a few more insured that its security measures would not inform anyone of his presence. He only had to check three rooms before he found Malfoys. Though he was disgusted to see that the Slytherins each had single rooms, rather than the full dorms of the other houses.

A few spells and potions added to Draco and his clothes had his plan in place and he quickly returned to his own dorm.

Breakfast the next day was much better. About halfway through the meal Malfoy climbed up on the Slytherin table and started singing. The charms Harry had added to the great hall when he came in for breakfast activated and music filled the space to accompany Draco’s rendition.  
As he began to walk along the table his robes twisted and reshaped themselves until he was wearing a pair of sparkly silver spandex shorts and a mesh t-shirt. His hair rose and bunched into an afro, and enormous hoop earrings formed against his cheeks.

The other members of Slytherin house watched in horror as Draco Malfoy belted out a muggle song. Most of the rest of the students started laughing, as he reached the first refrain of It’s Raining Men. Many stopped laughing however when they realized that with each refrain the males in the school were lifted up and dropped back to their seats.

For the rest of the day, the students had trouble talking of anything else beyond which of the boys Draco found most appealing.

After classes had finished Remus finally caught up with Harry. “Harry, I looked for you all day yesterday. I was held up after breakfast, but I thought I would find you after classes.”

“Sorry Remus,” Harry smiled, “I was in the lab.” He said, giving the older man a look to indicate that he meant something else. “Madam Pomfrey gave me a calming draft and told me to skip classes for the day. So I went and did some homework. Everything is ready for Thursday now. After I got that done.” He glanced in the direction of the great hall.

“I see, well, that is good news. I’m glad you’re taking things well. Can I entice you to join me for a cup of tea, there’s something I want to talk to you about.”

“Sure professor, lead the way.”

When they got to the office Lupin was careful to close the door completely and cast a spell at it that Harry didn’t recognize.

“What was that Remus?”

“That was an anti-eavesdropping spell. To insure that no one found out I was here.” Said a voice from a corner of the office. A voice that had Harry spinning to look in that direction. A voice that was raspy, and dry, as though it had spent many years out of use. Sirius was sitting at a table in the corner.

“Sirius.” Harry cried as he flung himself across the room into the waiting arms of his godfather. “You’re okay.” There was an odd croak in his voice, and he realized with dread that his eyes were watering. It took him several minutes to get himself back under control, during which he clung hard to the man he had never known, but who now seemed to be one of the most important people in his life. Somewhere deep inside he felt something burst, like a dam had fallen. He remembered a moment, being held by this man, when he was very small. His arms tightened for just a moment. “What happened?” He asked when he was able to speak again.

“Well, I expect you read the article. Fudge tried to hand me over to the dementors almost as soon as we were out of the gate. One of the aurors argued with him, but he said that regardless of any other consideration, the law says that if someone breaks out of Azkaban they are given the kiss. He never had any intention of letting me go, and given what the article said, I doubt he ever intended for anyone else to learn that I was innocent. Nymphadora made a nice distraction though when she argued with Fudge and I was able to change and get away.”

“So it was Peter that got the kiss?” Asked Harry.

“No cub, he changed and ran before we even got to the gate, Fudge seemed a bit pleased actually. Most likely he thought that it would be easier to prove any claims of my innocence wrong without that particular witness. Amy was pissed, but her hands are tied.”

“Amy?” Harry looked up quizzically.

“Amelia, we were friends at hogwarts. There’s nothing we can do now though. Fudge is even more intent on my recapture. And Peter will have left for parts unknown. No way to catch him, or even track where he went.” Sirius seemed to fall into himself at those words, a dark look crossing his face.

“I need to get Padfoot out of here Harry. I have an inbuilt excuse for leaving the castle at this time, as the full moon is approaching. I’ll take Sirius somewhere safe, somewhere they won’t think to look, and be back in a couple of days. I’m sorry this didn’t work out the way you wanted, but I thought you would like to know that Sirius is at least alive.”

“I am glad of that. Thank you Moony. Umm, where were you thinking of taking him?”

“It’s best that you not know, Harry. That way if anyone asks, you can honestly say you don’t know. Again, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be that’s a good plan. I was just wondering if you were going to take him somewhere he can heal and rest, or just where he can survive.”

“What do you mean pup?” Sirius asked, coming back out of his funk.

“Well, when we visited the states over the summer I heard about, damn I forgot the name. It’s somewhere in the bahamas I think. No extradition treaty, so lots of criminals use it as a resort location, or to visit hospital when they need to. There’s probably a magic side to it as well. You’d be able to get some help recovering from the time in prison, where no one could force you back. And I could come visit next summer, maybe even over christmas.” He sent the two men a wan smile as they blinked at each other.

“The Cayman Islands.” Lupin said slowly. “I don’t think I ever would have thought of that. But he’s right Padfoot. That would be perfect, like he said, no extradition treaty. Even if the ministry found out where you were, they wouldn’t be able to do anything about it. And there are magical clinics there that you could stay in.”

“I can pay for it if you need.” Harry offered. “I have money.”

Sirius chuckled. “So do I pup. I’m the last remaining Black, and we were one of the wealthiest families in Britain, until a few years ago. I’ll be fine, thank you though. I appreciate the offer.”

“We should get going then,” Remus said solemnly, “a portkey will be hard to arrange at this time, but I should be able to manage. Getting you through will be difficult, but I’m sure we can come up with something.”

“Wait,” Harry cried as the two men started to rise. “I can help.”

“Harry, that’s very kind, but.”

Three vials were placed on the table, and Harry looked up at the two confused men. Pointing to the first vial, “healing sleep. Basically it’s a mild healing tincture, combined with a medium pain reliever, added to a sleeping draft. Knocks you out for about twelve hours, allowing your body to rest and begin healing. This one,” he pointed to the second vial, “is a shrinking solution. It will make you very tiny, small enough to fit in a pocket.” The two blinked. ”And finally the antidote to the shrinking solution.” He reached over and pulled a sheet of parchment to him. With a wave of his wand, it became a small box. “So down the first two Sirius, you’ll be unconscious for the trip. Then Remus can put you in the box so you don’t bounce around too much. When you get where you’re going just pull him out, apply the antidote and voila.”

Sirius turned to Remus and exclaimed. “Did you hear that Moony. My godson’s a genius.” And he bounced out of his seat to wrap Harry in hug.

“He certainly is Pads, though I’m a little curious as to why he just happens to have those potions on him at this moment.” He looked at Harry making it clear he expected an answer.

In response Harry opened the potions pocket of his pack to show that he had several potions on hand. He then pulled out his shrunken trunk and expanded it back to full size, and opened his library to show them around quickly.

“I told you Remus, genius. My godson, the genius.”

“Yes Sirius, he is a genius, I will agree with that. Unfortunately, we really do need to get going. Harry, take care, and be careful who you tell about Sirius. I’ll see you in a few days.”

“You be careful too.” Harry responded before throwing himself into one last embrace with the two men.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have so much hatred for Fudge, I'm looking forward to giving him a well deserved punishment. Unfortunately, that won't be until near the end of this story. He is though, a useful tool for moving plot in the direction I want.


	41. Chapter 41

Thursday morning dawned bright and cheerful. Students were still chatting about who could have pranked Malfoy into performing muggle music in the great hall. Harry couldn’t keep a small smile off his lips as he went about his day. Dobby had delivered the new message to the Alliance members. They had been instructed to visit the library after classes had finished, and find the statue of a phoenix in the creatures section. Touching the statue they were to say the password, freedom. He was excited to see how everyone reacted to the new meeting place, and the entrance would be fun.

As soon as classes finished for the day, Harry rushed to get to the Chamber. He wanted to be there for at least the first few people arriving, to see their faces.

The first to appear was one of the older Hufflepuffs, Harry recognized him as the seeker for their team, Cedric Diggory. The tall boy shot out of the end of the pipe into the small pool of water that had been placed there to provide a softer landing.

Standing and spitting water, the boy yelped. “Ahh, what the?” He ran his hands through his hair trying to press as much water out as he could.

Laughing Harry called to the boy. “Cedric, come on.” He waved the boy closer, and motioned to the exit. “The exit has a drying charm, it will dry you off when you climb out.”

He offered a hand to help the older boy out of the water, which Diggory took. He looked down with a smile when he felt the drying charm activate. “Ahh, much better. Thanks Harry, I take it that’s a bit of a prank?” He cocked his head to the side with a smile.

“Sort of. We needed a way to soften the landing, and the pipes were already wet, so we went with this. The drying charm was a bit of an afterthought when we realized that no one would want to be wet for long, and it would hamper practice anyway. Have a look around, there’s refreshments down that way if you want something to nibble on, or to drink. The others shouldn’t be too long.”

In the end it took a little over a half hour for everyone to show up, and there were many comments. Mostly about the water, but many about the decor as well. They had transfigured padded floor tiles in alternating colors, emerald, ruby, topaz, and sapphire, for each of the houses. And included several carvings of eagles, badgers, snakes, and lions along the tunnel to the main chamber.

The main chamber as well had been altered drastically. The single statue had been moved slightly to one side and shrunk, then three more had been added, to represent each of the founders. The columns had been used as markers to parse off several areas, each dedicated to a specific branch of magical practice. Transfiguration in one, charms in another, each branch was covered, though Harry expected the area set up for dueling would get the most notice. Possibly followed by the fact that the divination section held nothing to do with fortune telling, except for the glass ball set at the entrance to designate it.

Only one person seemed to be unimpressed. Ron Weasley, the twins younger brother complained loudly about the prospect of more work. Several voices, Percy, the eldest Weasley at Hogwarts, the loudest, told him to quit complaining. Everyone else seemed eager and curious.

The five friends broke the group up and showed them around the chamber explaining what each space was meant for and asking for any upper years to volunteer time to tutor the younger years. There was an outburst at the divination area from several students who were taking the class. Harry led his group over to watch.

Lavender Brown was asking about the lack of tea leaves, crystal balls, tarot cards, etc. “What do you mean none of that has anything to do with divination. You’re not even taking the class.”

It was Hermione she was yelling at. But Harry had explained about that over the summer, thus talking her out of taking the class. She had this argument under control. “Just that Lavender. Here, can you identify this?” Hermione asked pulling a book from one of the shelves in the section and handing it to the shrieking Gryffindor.

Lavender seemed to calm a bit as she looked over the book. “It’s a different version of our textbook for divination. I don’t know why this author decided to rewrite it, it’s basically stealing someone else’s idea.” She said with a look of distaste.

“Interesting you put it that way.” Hermione smiled. “This,” she tapped the book Lavender held, “is a translation of a book that was written in fifteen ninety two. Your textbook was written in eighteen forty seven. However what should really disturb you, is that this,” she again tapped the book, “was written by a muggle. What Trelawney teaches, isn’t magic, it’s muggle fortune telling. This book is available in one version or another in every muggle bookstore I’ve ever been in, and muggles who practice it can be found everywhere.”

The entire watching crowd went silent, until Lavender and her friend Parvati began to sputter. Harry led his group off before the argument could begin in earnest.

As expected the dueling area was most people’s favorite, and nearly everyone wanted another demonstration from Harry, or else a practice duel. Once he gave in to the first offer, Harry was trapped. He spent most of the evening dueling with nearly all of the alliance, although what he found most interesting about that, wasn’t that he was only a little tired at the end, or that he actually managed to keep his spell work wordless. No, what was most interesting, was that he won, round after round, the only ones to give him a challenge were the upper years, and he even won against them. It wasn’t spell repertoire, the upper years clearly knew more spells than he did, nor was it his skill at dodging, although that helped. It was the combination of being able to spot what they were doing before they did it, via legilimency, and the practice at strategy that gave him just enough of an edge to make the difference. Several times he was asked if he would be joining the dueling circuit, and each time he answered that he planned to.

There was another moment of confusion when several people started cheering for no immediately apparent reason. It took several minutes to find out what had them so happy. It turned out to be the supply of muggle style notebooks and pens that had been made available. The cheering students were muggle-born and raised who were familiar with at least that much of the difference between the worlds. Though once the difference was demonstrated to the wizard raised among the Alliance they agreed that the muggle writing supplies were far superior to wizard ones. 

When at last curfew was approaching and everyone was heading out via the one way exits he had installed that led to hallways near each houses common room, Harry was well pleased with the evening.

Working together the alliance worked out a schedule that worked for everyone, offering help in each subject at different times, so that everyone could take part in each session that they wanted to. The hardest part was working around all the quidditch practices, and the other group meetings. But with the addition of Professors Lupin and Flitwick, no one had any complaints about the sessions themselves.

And thus the month of November passed by in such a blur of activity that Harry was surprised one morning when he woke to find it was the day of his first quidditch match of the year. While he’d been preparing for this match all month, it felt as though it had just sprung up this morning. Stumbling down to breakfast was a bit surreal, being less than fully awake it almost felt like someone else moving along, while he watched.

The match began the same as every other match. The balls rose into the air, the snitch shot off to hide, the bludgers went racing after players, and the quaffle was snatched by the chasers to be rushed down the pitch in an attempt to beat the keeper and score a goal. Harry largely ignored all of that, trying desperately to keep an eye on the snitch. It had jerked towards the Hufflepuff seats before he had lost sight of it. Rising high he began to circle watching closely for any sign of the elusive little thing.

The match seemed to flutter along, Harry was only just aware of the commentary, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were both scoring rapidly. The bludgers working hard to unseat the chasers, with the help of the beaters.

Flying along, pushing for as much speed as he could manage Harry was wholly focused on finding the snitch, several times he thought he had seen it, only to discover that he had caught sight of a wristwatch, or some other jewelry.

“You okay Harry?” Cedric called as he passed by on his own search for the snitch.

“Yeah, just feeling a little off today. How about you Cedric?”

“I’m pretty alright, at least we didn’t have to play in that rainstorm that Gryffindor and Slytherin had though right?”

“Yeah, that would have sucked. Uh, oh, we’re getting attention.” Glancing toward the crowd they agreed that the audience was indeed watching them. Apparently curious as to what had the seekers stopping for a chat.

Smiling Cedric yelled to Harry. “Let’s give them a show, catch me if you can.” And he shot off towards the stands.

Wheeling his broom around Harry, leaned forward and pushed his broom as fast as he could. Cedric turned to rise into the sky, and Harry pulled up hard to follow. High, high above the crowd they climbed, until they were high enough that the stands looked like a model. Even the castle seemed like it could be a giant dollhouse, and when he looked to the side he could see the edge of Hogsmeade village. It was oddly idyllic he thought.

“Is it just me, or is getting colder?” Cedric called, breaking Harry out of his thoughts.

Looking around he saw that the clouds were drawing together, and growing dark. The temperature did indeed seem to be dropping rapidly. Something caught his eye as he glanced around trying to figure out what was happening. A glistening, rainbow throwing something, falling toward them. A single drop of rain, spiralled down from the clouds to plop, right on Harry’s nose. He reached up to brush the moisture away, but it was a meaningless act, as a moment later the sky opened and poured a torrential, drenching, blanket of rain upon them.

A moment later a scream of near panic wrenched him out of his momentary daze. Cedric was screaming at him, pointing to the side. Looking to where the older boy indicated he saw a dozen tall cloaked figures floating out of the clouds, coming closer. Then he heard what Cedric was saying. “Dive Harry, dive!”

Not waiting for further input he nodded to Cedric and pointed his broom to the ground. Cedric beside him they dove, faster than Harry had ever dove before, and yet he could feel the dementors behind them. Deep in his mind he began hearing a woman scream. He leaned forward trying to push just a little more speed from his broom.

Something came hurtling from beside him, something small and black and hard. It struck him in the side, and he toppled, broom spinning in a roll. Harry tried to pull up, tried to avoid the player that was suddenly in front of him, but it was too late. He was going far too fast and the ground was far too close. He plowed into someone, and together they plowed into the ground. The last thing he noticed before everything went dark was an odd tickling at his wrist.

Blinking he looked up into a darkening sky with several silvery things streaking across it. A moment later Madam Pomfrey came into view above him. Professor Lupin right behind her looking worried. Reaching up, he offered his hand to Moony, trying to say something, but his tongue wasn’t responding. Something fluttered against his palm and on instinct he grabbed it.  
There was an explosion of sound and his vision began to darken again, which he decided was a good idea, and allowed himself to sink into the darkness.

“Welcome back Mister Potter.” Madam Pomfrey said as she looked over his chart. “Did you miss me? I assure you, I am unopposed to visits from students, in fact I prefer a visit over the unannounced injuries I usually have to deal with.” She smiled down at the boy.

“Good morning Madam Pomfrey.” Harry responded as he stroked Hedwig, who had once again come to visit him in the hospital. Loki was prowling around the corner somewhere, most likely trying to find a way to get into trouble. “I apologize for the unexpected nature of my visit. I promise I didn’t plan to hit the ground that hard.”

“Well, I’m glad it wasn’t planned, still, I would prefer you not to land yourself in here in such a manner. Do try to be more careful next time.” Her smile grew a little broader. “You are free to go Mister Potter.”

“Thank you, Madam Pomfrey, I’ll try to stay uninjured for a while.” He responded with a grin.  
As he was making his way out of the infirmary there was a slight commotion at the door. Hermione and the twins were fighting over who got to enter first. Smiling to himself, Harry moved to the side and threw his invisibility cloak over himself before they could catch sight of him.

When they finally finished fighting and made their way inside he was nowhere to be seen. Madam Pomfrey informed them that he had left sometime ago. He followed along behind them, listening to them argue over where he might have gone, but got bored with that rather quickly, so he started tapping them on the shoulder and moving away. So they would turn to see who was tapping them, and then turn to look at each other.

It wasn’t until the third time he had done this that Luna caught on, but she just hid a giggle and waited to see who would catch on next. When he got Hermione she stopped and called out. “Okay Harry, I know that’s you under your cloak. Come out.” She had a determined look as though she was ready to stand and fight on this subject for hours if need be.

The twins meanwhile stared at her for a moment then burst out laughing. “Do it again Harry, if she’s right that’s a good one.” They said together.

Not one to turn down a friend, Harry obliged by tapping Fred on one shoulder and George on the other, then quickly moving to tap Hermione. Unfortunately Hermione was just a bit faster than he was. She spun and grabbed at him as he moved. She missed Harry but got hold of the cloak which slid off his head before he got a grip on it. Hermione had pulled hard though and the momentum pulled him into her and they both fell to the floor in a tangle.

“Harry James Potter, you enormous prat!” Hermione yelled, emphasizing each word with a smack to his arms and ribs. “Get off of me.”

“Ow, ow, stop that. Madam Pomfrey said she didn’t want to see me again for a while. If I have to go back there with bruises already, I’ll tell her it was you who did it. Then she’ll stick you to a bed too.” He laughed, struggling to get free of the cloak and Hermione’s flailing arms.

Once they were all up Harry was engulfed in a group hug. “You scared us.” Hermione cried into his side. “Don’t ever do that again.”

“I’m sorry guys, I didn’t mean to scare you.” Harry offered.

“Hey, speak for yourself Hermione. We knew Harry was fine, he caught the snitch after all.” Fred said pompously.

“What happened with the dementors?” Harry asked, remembering what exactly had happened at the mention of the snitch.

“The teachers drove them off with patroni. I can’t wait for Professor Lupin to start teaching us how to do that. He said he’ll have to wait until after christmas though.”

“Which is only a couple weeks away, so I guess we’ll be okay.” George said.


	42. Chapter 42

The run up to the winter break seemed to flash by. Harry spent most of the time, getting to know the members of the alliance, and making ring foci for as many of them as he could. There were so many that after the third he simply explained the process and invited everyone to use the potions lab to make their own, if they felt comfortable doing the brewing themselves. A great many did, including all but one of the Slytherins.

Gregory Goyle approached Harry after he had explained the process. “Umm, Harry?” His voice was much softer than Harry had expected, though a little gruff. “Can you make one for me, I’m not a good brewer.” They large boy seemed a bit sheepish about asking, but Harry was pleased that he had. It gave him an opportunity to talk to the boy.

“Of course. Come on.” He led the larger boy to the lab and got the first potion brewing. “So, I’ve been wanting to chat with you. I’m curious what made you decide to join us. You seemed to have a strong place with Malfoy. I take it that was an act?”

Goyle frowned. “We’re not friends. My father owes Mister Malfoy, and part of paying him back is my protecting Draco. But Draco is really annoying, I hate the way he talks down to everyone. He might be smarter than me, but that doesn’t make him better. And Tracey was the first person to be really nice to me. She’s a half-blood, Draco says that means she’s uncivilized, and that she doesn’t know how to act. But she’s nice, and Draco is mean. I don’t want to be civilized if it means I have to be around mean people all the time. So when she asked if I wanted to be part of a group that’s going to make everyone be nice, I said yes.”

Harry smiled broadly and nodded at the boy. “That’s right, we do plan to make everyone be nice. Although we expect it to take a while. Probably a few years at least. But we’re working on a place where we can go to get away from the mean people. I don’t know how long that’s going to take though. We don’t actually have the place yet. There’s so much to do, it’s a good thing we’re starting early. I’d hate to think what might happen if we had to scramble to get everything done, after he was already back.”

“Yeah, that would suck. My dad told me stories about what it was like when he was strong. The things he did.” The boy looked up at Harry, who was surprised to see the pain in the other boys eyes. “I don’t ever want to be like him, and I’m afraid if he comes back.” He trailed off.

“If he comes back, I’ll find a way for you to get away. Try not to worry too much. That’s part of what this group is about. So we can help each other to get away from things like that. I’m working on some things that will help us to escape from bad situations if we need to, the twins are too.”

“Thanks Harry. That does help, oh yeah, and thanks for what you said about making sure the other Slytherins don’t find out about us. Some of them are really mean, I think they might do something really bad, if they found out that we joined you.”

Deciding to take a chance Harry reached out and laid a hand on the larger boys shoulder. “You’re welcome Greg.” He was relieved when the Slytherin lifted his head and smiled.

Goyle’s ring turned out to be a bear holding an emerald between all four paws. He smiled when he saw it and pushed it into place on his finger with a hum of satisfaction.

“Okay Hagrid, now you need to get Norberta to eat this, and when she does, you drink the rest of the vial.” Harry explained as he passed the large vial of bright red potion to the half giant, and pointed to the haunch upon which he had poured half the contents of the vial.

“It won’t hurt her, will it Harry? Not that I don’t trust you an’ all.” Hagrid responded with a worried expression.

“It’s a bonding potion Hagrid, it won’t hurt either of you. It will allow you to communicate more easily, and if you want, allow you to forge a familiar bond. Although that will be up to the two of you.”

Nodding slowly, still a bit unsure, Hagrid lifted the haunch and laid it in front of the Norwegian Ridgeback. Norberta sniffed at the meat several times before giving it a snort of fire. Harry winced, he wasn’t sure what effect, if any, the fire would have on the potion. It might do nothing, considering it was being eaten by a dragon, then again, it could alter the effects of the potion in a variety of unexpected ways. Unfortunately it was too late to change it now. The dragon snapped up the haunch before Harry could even draw in a breath. A minute later the last of the meal was disappearing down her throat.

Smacking his lips Hagrid turned to Harry. “Well, at least it’s not one of the foul tasting potions. How long till it takes effect?”

“I’m not sure. Hermione was talking with Crookshanks within an hour. But Norberta’s a dragon, not a cat. So it will probably be different.”

“Oh, well, I guess we wait then. Some tea while we wait?” Hagrid asked pulling his silver pot from his coat.

It was different for the dragon. A half hour later Hagrid dropped his tea cup and looked over to Norberta. Then he looked at Harry and made some strange grunting, growling noises. To Harry’s surprise Norberta seemed to respond, and she seemed to be laughing. For a minute the two grunted back and forth, Harry looking on amusedly. Clearly the potion had worked.

Just as Harry was beginning to think that he should leave, and give them the time to begin really getting to know each other. But before he could make a decision he was being lifted skyward, and an immense pressure was bearing down on his ribs. It took him a moment to realize that Hagrid was hugging him tightly.

“Thank you Harry, thank you.” He said when he finally let go, and Harry was a little embarrassed to see that Hagrid was crying.

“Happy Christmas Hagrid. I thought you’d like it.” Harry answered with a smile so wide he felt like his face was tearing in two.

Before he knew it, the day to head home had come. And for the second time in his life, Harry Potter headed home for Christmas with a smile.

The smile soon faded however when they got to the station and saw the dementors drifting around the train. The teachers who had escorted them quickly drew their wands. A half dozen patroni burst into the air and began to chase the foul things away. But even with a few of the townsfolk and older students joining in the sense of dread didn’t pass until the train was well away from Hogsmeade.

Rather than allow the dementors to ruin the trip the group gathered in Harry’s trunk to watch movies again, once more inviting a few new friends to join them. The twins won the toss and opted for Monty Python. By the time they reached London, they were smiling and laughing, the dementors all but forgotten.

When they reached London the whole family was there, the magical adults had even pulled the adult Grangers across the boundary onto the platform. The rounds of family hugs had Harry wondering if they had missed the adults more, or if the adults had missed them more.

Unlike last year, they did not leave by car, but rather by floo. Straight to the burrow, where Molly pointed everyone at the extended table.

When everyone was seated Arthur cleared his throat. “So, as you all know, we’ve all become rather close this past summer. It’s come as a surprise to Molly and I, but we’ve begun to think of the Grangers and the Lovegoods,” he raised a glass to both as he spoke, “as family. And so we would like to invite all of you to join us for Christmas, and to share with us all the joy the season has to offer.” He raised his glass in a toast, and everyone followed, with many “here, here’s” and much whooping, mostly from the twins.

As he sat back down, Arthur motioned to Xeno, who stood and raised a glass of his own. “I would like to echo Arthur’s sentiment. Four years ago Luna and I suffered a loss that nearly broke us. When Luna brought a boy home for the holidays, I assumed she had found a release from her grief and a way to move on. Little did I know, how right, and how wrong I was. She brought home so much more. Harry, thanks to you coming into our lives, and dragging us out into the sun, we have a new family,” he raised the glass to everyone at the table, “and a new outlook for the future. We thank you all for welcoming us into your lives, and for opening your homes to us.” A small runnel of tears was falling from the man's eye, and Luna reached up to squeeze his hand. “We would like to invite all of you to celebrate Yule with us as well. We celebrate in the traditional fashion, with food and merriment from sundown to sunup on the night of the solstice, with a great cheer when the sun rises in recognition of our surviving the long night. It would be a great pleasure, and pride if you would join us.” He raised his glass, but the kids were all looking to the parents. The Weasley and Granger parents all nodded to their children and everyone cheered and raised their glasses.

As Xeno sat he nodded to John, who also rose. “We just had to make it a threesome didn’t we?” He smiled at the groans from the older kids. “Jean and I would like to begin by saying how proud we are of Hermione and Harry for finding such amazing friends who would welcome us into their homes and hearts. We would also like to echo Arthur, as we’ve come to know you all this past summer, we’ve come to think of you as a part of our family, and we are so very grateful that you feel the same.”

“Just before you younger kids left for Hogwarts, Harry showed us some things. And us old fogies have been discussing them ever since.” Harry noticed that for a moment it looked like Molly wanted to say something, but she held it in. “I won’t bore you with the details, instead we want you all to know that we are here for you. If you want to talk about anything, if you need help, or advice. And most importantly, when he comes back, we will stand to defend you. In the interest of that, we have a trip planned for tomorrow that we would like for all of you to join us for. I won’t say where, that’s a surprise, it would be an immense pleasure to have you all join us.” He raised his own glass, clearly this was all planned. Except the other adults seemed a bit surprised at the end of John’s speech.

Several looks were passed around the table, and a few wheedling voices begged their parents, and in the end everyone agreed. At which point, Molly stood.

“Okay, now all the speeches are over.” She waved her wand and the table groaned with food. “Let’s eat.” She said with an enormous smile.

The salt spray on a slightly choppy sea, Harry decided was pretty much fantastic. The rolling of the small ship on the waves beat flying, and the aroma of the sea was somehow both cleaner than a new car, and more inviting than a hot shower. The only thing missing he thought, was the ability to control the movement himself, but that would come in time. He was so owning a boat at some point in his life.

The trip had started innocuously enough. They had piled into the Weasleys old ford anglia which had been expanded inside and fit everyone easily. The drive seemed to take forever though, as they headed all the way down to the southernmost tip of the country.

There had been a surprise waiting for them at the docks in the small fishing village. Professor Lupin, accompanied by a big black dog was standing next to a small restaurant where they had an early lunch before setting out on a rickety old fishing boat with a man in a casual business suit who had introduced himself as Gary Brown, and was the sales representative for a real estate company. It seemed they were going to look at some property, which got Harry excited. He figured they were going to look at whatever location John had found for their safe house idea.  
They had been on the water for a little over an hour when a great dark jet of rock came into view through the mist and spray. As they drew closer Harry observed that the island was taller on one end, and seemed to be ringed with underwater rock formations, that made it look unapproachable. And on the shorter side there seemed to be some kind of building set up on a hill overlooking the only beach.

Chugging into a small cove that served as the islands only useable port he saw that his earlier impression was spot on. A large hotel sat on a small hillock overlooking the bay, and its accompanying beach, and just beyond the sand, several dozen small beach cabins, most of which had fallen in on themselves. Behind the hotel a small mountain rose on the opposite side of the island. 

Despite the hotel and the cabins, the place had a forlorn, dreary feel. With most of the cabins falling in on themselves, and the paint peeling from the hotel, it was clear this place had been abandoned for a long time. What few trees were scattered around the beach, seemed to be dying, and there was an empty sort of feel to the place that made Harry briefly think of dementors.

“Not very cheerful is it?” Mrs. Weasley said as she looked around.

“Unfortunately no.” The sales rep answered. “As you can see the place has been abandoned for a while now. The island had no name until a few years ago. The company that purchased it had it registered as No Name Island though. They built the hotel, and the cabins, along with a few other necessities and planned to turn the island into a resort location. As you can see, it didn’t work out for them. I don’t know all the details, just that they ate up most of their budget getting the buildings up, and then weren’t able to draw in enough crowd to sustain the place. It only managed to stay open for one summer, before they abandoned the site. No natural resources other than a small fresh water spring, near the center of the island. Not sure about the fishing, we have no reports on that. The seller is merely looking to recoup their losses. They are asking for three million pounds, however I have some wiggle room if you’re interested.”

With a frown Jean asked. “Do you mind if we take a look around?”

“Not at all, take your time. Although the weather report indicates the possibility of a storm later in the day, so we shouldn’t stay too long. It only takes about a half hour to walk to the other side of the island though, so you have time to explore if you want. If you’re splitting up I can accompany whoever you like to answer questions.” The sales rep answered.

A bit of discussion and the group broke into three. Mr. and Mrs. Granger took Hermione, Ginny, Percy, Bill, and Mister Brown to look over the hotel. Arthur and Molly took charge of Ron, Luna, Charlie, and the twins, who went to look at the cabins and the beach. Which left Xeno, Harry and Remus, along with the dog, who decided to head for the far end of the island, to check out the grounds, the spring, and the mountain.

A few hours later, the island explored and photographed as thoroughly as they could manage, they arrived back on the mainland. Lupin and his dog joined them for the trip back to the Burrow, and a late dinner. Everyone was starving when they finally got back, and Molly rushed off to the kitchen to get food ready. Hermione, Ginny, and Luna trailing along behind to assist, and Jean following in their wake, curious how a magical kitchen was different from her own mundane version.

Meanwhile everyone else gathered around the table to discuss the findings of the trip. Photos were laid out, Lupin and Bill produced parchment and began drawing diagrams of the island and hotel.

They had barely been at it for five minutes however when they were interrupted by the arrival of Molly, and food. Pushing the photos and diagrams to the side they tore into dinner before continuing.

“Harry,” Lupin spoke up after the meal was cleared away, “before we get too far into this. Have you told them,” he indicated the other adults, “about what we learned at Halloween?”

“What about Black, and his innocence?” John asked. “Or something else?”

“Black innocent?” Molly exclaimed. “What are you talking about?” She glared around the table as though daring anyone to speak.

“Ah, missed someone then. Do you have your pensieve handy Harry?”

“Yeah, gimme a second.” Harry responded pulling out his trunk. A minute later the pensieve was set up and Lupin was extracting a memory. The questioning of Sirius Black played on the wall for everyone to see. Already knowing what it would show Harry picked up the photos and began ordering them into piles for each floor of the hotel and the island itself.

When the memory finished Molly let out a loud breath. “And then he, oh Harry.” And suddenly Harry was wrapped in a Molly hug. It was warm and mothering, if a bit suffocating. Especially when she squeezed as tight as she could, like now.

“Molly, I think he might need to breath.” Lupin chuckled, as Arthur gently pried his wife off Harry enough for the boy to have unimpeded access to air.

“Sorry Harry, it’s just. That must have been heart wrenching for you. And to lose him so soon after.” She gripped his shoulder tightly. To her surprise though, Harry smiled.

“I didn’t lose him Mrs. Weasley. He’s right over there.” Harry pointed to the black dog, who barked and leapt onto one of the dining chairs. But it was Sirius Black who landed in the chair leaning back looking comfortable as you please.

“Good afternoon Molly, and thank you for inviting me into your home. It is quite a lovely home.” Black said with a grin. “Arthur, thank you as well.” He added with a nod to the older man.

Molly and Arthur looked like they were auditioning to be bird houses with their mouths hanging open at the sight of a wanted man in their dining room. They soon recovered though, Arthur rushed to shake the man's hand, while Molly offered him tea.

“Thank you Molly, tea would be nice. And thank you both for helping take care of Harry. It’s good to know he has such a loving family to care for him. Now, I believe we were going to discuss this island. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I noticed something off while we there.”

“Like a sort of black haze around the whole island?” Harry asked.

“Yeah that’s it. A little easier to spot as a dog, though anyone who’s had practice looking for curses should be able to spot it easily enough. When did you get that pup?”

“Hogwarts, I’ll have to tell you about a special room sometime. I’m interested in maybe being a curse-breaker when I get done with school, so I’ve been getting some practice when I can.”

“I noticed it too.” Bill said into the silence that followed Harry’s speech. “It was particularly strong in the lower levels of the hotel. I think the island was cursed at some point. Hard to say when or why though.”

“Can anything be done about it?” John asked.

“Sure, could take some work, but it can be done.” Sirius said. “The hard part will be finding the core, assuming there is one. Given the size of the island, and what Bill said about it getting stronger below ground level. I’d estimate a month or so to track it down, less if I had help.”

“You know how to do that?” Ron asked.

“Sure, I trained as a curse-breaker after Hogwarts. I have a gift with wards, and such. Kind of like some people are just naturally good fliers.” The dog man smiled over at Harry. “James was like that with transfiguration. Lilly with Charms.”

“What about you professor?” The twins asked in unison.

“Me?, well, my field was always creatures. I got a mastery in defence, but my focus was on handling dangerous creatures, as well as caring for the more friendly ones.”

“That makes sense, all things considered.” Jean mentioned.

“What do you mean, all things considered?” Molly asked.

“Oh dear, I, uh, nothing.”

“It’s alright Jean, if I’m going to be around, which I would very much like to be for Harry it’s only fair that everyone knows.”

Sirius reached up and gripped his friend's arm. “Are you sure Mooney?”

“Of course Padfoot. I’m a werewolf Molly, hence my understanding of creatures, being one myself, rather helps.”

Molly looked like she was about to panic, and perhaps even demand that Lupin leave at once. Until Harry, Hermione, Fred, George, Bill, Charlie, Sirius, and Ginny, stood and moved between them. When she saw so many of her children ready to defend the man she deflated. “Right, right, of course. That’s not a problem, I apologize for my reaction.”

“Not at all Molly. I’m rather used to it after all.” Molly smiled up at the mild man. He turned to those who had stood. “You however, while I thank you for defending me. I must point out that while I am perfectly safe, right now. During the full moon, I most certainly am not. It is important to be on your guard.”

Harry narrowed his eyes. “I can’t speak for the others uncle Mooney.” He caught the mans quick smile at the familiarity. “But I can say that I will be perfectly safe with you on the full moon.”

“Harry, you don’t,” but what he was going to say was never finished, as at that moment Harry vanished. 

In his place on the floor was a messy haired black badger. For a moment, everyone was stunned into silence, until the moment was broken by the sound of Sirius Black falling off his chair, rolling with laughter. “You can’t argue with that Mooney.” He yelled.

“Harry, you did it!” Fred cried. “Now I’m jealous, you just wait.” No one noticed George slip out of the room.

Lupin was squatting down in front of Harry and examining the badger which grunted at him and hoisted itself up to look him in the eye. “This is impressive Harry.” The man said reaching out a tentative hand to pet the creature.

“And two years before we managed it.” Sirius said finally getting a grip on himself, and coming up next to Lupin. “Your dad would be so proud Harry. Right after he got done chewing you out for attempting something so dangerous.”

A sudden pop arrested any further words, and the group turned to see a pair of racoons where the twins had been seated. George had retrieved their potions from their room while everyone was distracted by Harry.

“Really, you know you’re now stuck like that right.” Hermione berated them. A mewling sort of laugh was their only response as they leapt off their chairs and tackled Harry the badger.

Trying not to be distracted by the wrestling mammals on the floor, and the howling Sirius, who was rolling again, Jean turned to Hermione. “What do you mean their stuck like that dear?”

Reddening Hermione dipped her head to the table. “I’m sorry mum, we didn’t want to worry you. The twins are at the potion stage, which means they have to take a potion to assume their animal forms. It doesn’t wear off for four hours, so they can’t come out of their racoon forms until then.”

“And I take it from your reaction to your mothers question, that you are doing this as well?” A slight nod was Hermione's only response to her father's question. “Well, I suppose there’s nothing we can do about it now. Go on then, what’s your form?”

Hermione whipped her head up to look at her father so fast that her hair slapped her mother. Who started laughing. “You didn’t think we’d have a problem with it, did you dear? I’m only upset that you didn’t talk to us about it.”

“It isn’t safe.” Molly screached, finally having found her voice again. “They could be stuck like that forever.”

“Is that true?” John asked, turning to look at the other adults.

Even the wrestling animals seemed to have taken notice, Sirius was picking himself up off the floor. But it was Remus who responded. “The animagus transformation can go horribly wrong, if it is done incorrectly. Which is part of why the ministry tries to keep a close eye on anyone attempting to achieve it.”

“Hah,” Sirius barked out a laugh, “you know James always said that was bull. According to his family records, they believed any magical person could achieve the transformation, but that the ministry actually tried to prevent certain people from doing so in order to “prove” that only “powerful” wizards could do it. That’s why they monitor anyone attempting it, so they can sabotage anyone they don’t like.”

“But the ministry wouldn’t do that.” Molly stated confidently.

“Much like they wouldn’t have an innocent man kissed, mum.” Charlie answered her outburst. “I’m with Mister Black on this. A friend of mine did it while we were at school too. And he didn’t have any problems.”

Bill spoke up too. “According to the Gringotts records I’ve seen, something like one in every five witches and wizards in Britain at least attempts the transformation without any sort of difficulty, and only those who have registered before attempting it have ever reported any problems.”

Molly looked stunned. Arthur jumped in before she could start again. “According to Ministry records there have only been seven animagi in the past century, ever since registration became required. There’s a betting pool that sometimes goes through the office on how many unregistered there are in the country. While I’ve never considered it myself, I will say that the requirements to register are far easier for old pureblood families than for anyone else.”

Now Molly looked gobsmacked. She sputtered out. “But, but, are they okay? How can we be sure that their safe?”

Returning to his human form, Harry answered. “Because I’m helping them Missus Weasley.” She looked up at him. “I’m following the instructions my dad left for me, or rather I did, and now I’m sharing them with everyone else. You too, if you want.”

“Oh that’s very kind of you dear, but I don’t think I’d be very comfortable as an animal.”

“I’d take you up on that Harry, if the offer’s open.” Bill jumped into the opening.

“And me?” Asked Charlie. “Who knows, maybe I’ll be a dragon.”

That got the whole room laughing along with Sirius, which broke the tension nicely.

“Okay, okay,” John said as the laughter tapered off, “let’s get back to the island, and what we think. Wait, one thing first. Hermione, you never answered my question.” He looked at his daughter, waiting for her to catch his meaning.

“Oh, right. Umm, I’m a poodle.” And just like that, Sirius was on the floor again. “It’s not that funny.” Hermione defended herself.

“I guess he thinks it is.” Harry offered. “I won’t say anything if you turn his hair blue, or something like that.”

Fortunately for him, Sirius stopped laughing before Hermione lost her temper. “Sorry Hermione, just the image of you hunting lions was too much.”

“Hunting lions, what?” Molly asked.

“Part of the process is learning everything you can about your form. When I was learning about mine, I picked up a lot about different breeds. Poodles were bred for hunting lions, that’s why their fur is so thick and wiry. The lions jaws can’t get through it. Rather fitting with your hair though.”

Hermione narrowed her eyes at the dog man, and he gulped, she did look rather dangerous in that moment. When her face shifted to a smirk he relaxed, until she brought up her hand and snapped her fingers. A moment later there was a small uproar as Black’s hair turned a brilliant sapphire blue.

It took several minutes to calm everyone down enough to explain about the rings, and listen to almost everyone saying that they wanted one. After which they finally got back to the island.

After a couple of hours of back and forth on the subject, they had come down to three problems. Everyone agreed the location was perfect, assuming they could get rid of the curse, which was the first problem. It could be overcome, but would take work. The second problem was cost, the seller was asking three million pounds, or six hundred thousand galleons for the magicals. If they sold everything they had and pooled it they still didn’t have enough. Even adding Sirius’ vault which contained almost two hundred thousand galleons. And then there was the third problem, location. Getting to the island was a bit of a hassle, and would mean the need for at least one boat.

“Too bad I can’t boot my cousins out of the family and reclaim the money that was given to them.” Sirius said offhandedly. “I could sell the old house, but that wouldn’t help much. I doubt I could get much for it, the place was a tomb when I left. And that was years before Azkaban. I rather doubt my mother made it any better after I left, and she died several years ago, the place has been empty ever since.”

“Not to mention that we couldn’t ask you to sell your house.” Commented John.

“It’s not really my house, I own it yeah, legally it’s mine. But it wasn’t a happy home if you catch my meaning. I’d be glad to be rid of the place, and it’s overdue anyway. My great grandfather lost a bet, which caused the family estate to be lost. They were forced to move into that place, but only for two generations. My father could have moved elsewhere, he was just too lazy to bother. I never wanted to stay there after I left, and always intended to get rid of it, after my parents passed, which they have.”

“Still, it’s yours. If you want to sell it, that's your choice. But you should use that money to get yourself a place of your own, not for this.” Arthur said quietly.

“Thank you, but there’s a bigger problem with that. As a fugitive I can’t sell it, or buy a new place either.” That had the room going quiet for a minute.

Until Harry looked up. “But you’re not.” He held up a hand to forestall the protests he knew would be coming. “Hear me out. According to the ministry, you were kissed. Legally they can’t argue about that, it would reveal that they lied. So we could have your will read. If you haven’t already made one, I can take it to Gringotts for you. They don’t respect the ministry anyway, and would probably consider it a great joke to use the ministries own idiocy against them. Just leave it to one of us, and we can take care of that for you. And if we do get the island, you’re welcome to move out there. I mean you’ll need to be out there anyway to get rid of the curse, and I think we could hire Bill to assist with that, so you’d have company. And of course we’d come to visit as often as we could. What do you think?”

“Pup, I think you’re even more of a genius than I knew.” The escapee hauled the green eyed wizard into a hug. “We’ll take care of that tomorrow, and I’ll show you all to the house and key you into the wards. It will need some work to make it suitable for resale though.”

“I’ll be glad to help.” Harry offered.

“Well, I’m glad we got that worked out.” Xeno beamed a radiant smile at godfather and godson. “However, we should return to the question of the island.“

“Agreed,” John leaned forward with a sheet of paper on which he had been crunching some numbers. “It’s being handled through a non-magical real estate agency. Now I’m not familiar with how you do land sales in the magical world, obviously. But in the non-magical, sales like this aren’t normally handled in one transaction. Generally you pay a portion of the cost up front, then make monthly payments on the rest. Based on what we have available we could gather about a third of the total cost for an up front payment. If I remember how to break it down right, and got the math right. That would be around nine thousand pounds a month, for a twenty year payment plan. Harry, how much do you think you could manage to do, with what Nick taught you over the summer?”

“Umm, more than that, but I’m not sure if they would take payment in gold bars. And the goblins won’t buy them.”

“What about the lost and found?” Luna’s airy voice drifted around the room. “We could get the alliance to help find more things in there that we could sell.”

“That's actually a really good idea.” Remus grinned at the little blonde. “Although there’s no guarantee that you’ll find enough to cover it. We are talking about a lot of money.” 

“Gold bars!” Jeans voice cut through the group and turned everyone’s attention to her. “The sales rep said there were no natural resources on the island. But what if we “found” natural resources, such as gold. We could sell it to the government, who would give us the best price anyway. And if we make sure we have the mineral rights to the island when we take possession, no one can come in and try to take it back based on that.”

John turned and swept his wife up into a kiss. “That’s brilliant, how did I marry such a smart woman?”

“You got lucky dear.” Jean smiled at her husband's antics.

“Okay, you’ll have to explain some of that to me, because I didn’t quite understand.” Arthur asked.

It took several minutes and a few side questions before everyone understood how the idea would work, and why it was so brilliant. Bill pointed out that it would be a good idea though to check whether any tests had been done to find such things, and what else might be found alongside whichever mineral they decided to go with. As gemstones, if they could reasonably produce any would sell better, and make more. Hermione immediately offered to do the research on that.

“Okay, so that’s one problem dealt with, what about the other one?” John asked.

“I think I have a solution to the travel problem.” Harry offered. “Well, two actually, but only one of them will work for you guys.” He motioned to John and Jean. “Option one, is travel portals. I got the idea from one of the books I read over the summer. It’s an arch or a hoop, or whatever. You walk into one here, and come out of one there. I haven’t quite got it figured out yet, but I think I’m close. The second option, is from old celtic lore. Tree travel, you walk into one tree and out of another. Which would be easier to hide how your moving, but I’m even less sure of how that will work. I have a few theories but that’s all.”

“Hmm, how soon do you think you’ll know for sure if either of those works, and more importantly, how soon can you have them available?”

“Well, if I set aside the work on a different project, and focus on that. Hmm, I should have an idea of doability by the end of the break, and at least the first working prototype by the end of the term.”

“Okay, get on that then, and let us know as soon as you can.” Xeno stated. “Well, that seems to be settled for the moment then. Shall we call it a night? It’s a bit past Luna’s bedtime.” He smiled at his daughter, who smiled dreamily back at him.

“Yeah, I think we’re done for tonight.” Arthur and John agreed.

As Harry was preparing for bed there was a knock at the door. George who was already in his pajamas answered, and a moment later allowed Lupin into the room. “Sorry to interrupt boys, I wanted to have a quick word with the master pranksters about gift ideas for everyone.”

“Master pranksters?” Harry asked.

“Well yes, I certainly consider you three to be masters of pranking. I’m not alone either, I’ve told Sirius all about the pranks you’ve pulled this year, and he agrees.”

Fred and George shared a look and threw themselves at the feet of the marauder. “Thank you, oh great one. Grand master of pranking. We revel in your approval.” They chanted together.

Laughing softly Harry added his own thanks. “Thank you Mooney, that really does mean a lot. What can we help you with?”

“Ah, umm, yes.” He said looking at the twins who were still prostrated at his feet. “Perhaps it would be best if you two got up and talked with me normally.” When they had returned to their beds he continued. “I was hoping you three could offer some advice on gifts for the rest of your family.”

Fred and George offered a pair of mischievous grins and glanced at Harry, who was sporting his own grin. Three voices replied, “Yes, we can do that.” Laughter rang through the room as they began to discuss ideas.


	43. Chapter 43

“Good morning Mister Potter. To what do I owe the pleasure of such an early visit today?” Garnoc asked with a sneer, when he finally entered his office the following morning.

“A fine, rough morning, Garnoc. Two things, first I was asked to register this document.” He handed over the Will Sirius had written up last night.

Looking over the Will Garnoc smiled broadly, showing off his sharp teeth. “This is interesting Mister Potter. You do realize that if this document is not legitimate that you will face criminal charges.”

Harry smiled in as mean a way as he could and responded in gobbledygook. “Yes Garnoc, I am well aware of that. However if you were to check the document you would find that it is legitimate. My godfather and I are playing a prank on the ministry.”

Eyebrows raising in surprise, Garnoc tested the Will and confirmed it to be authentic. “Well, this ought to be interesting. I take it this prank includes executing this Will, despite Mister Black being alive?”

“Yes, this way he can access his vaults and house without having to risk showing himself.” Garnoc threw his head back and howled. It took Harry a moment to recognize the hacking sound as laughter, but when he did, he joined the goblin in his mirth.

“Very good then, let’s get this registered and executed.” The process took several minutes, but soon enough Harry was the proud owner of yet another vault. “Good, now what was the second thing you needed?” Garnoc asked once all the paperwork was done.

“Much easier, I merely need to visit my vault.”

Garnoc waved his hand over his desk and a few moments later the door opened to admit another goblin, one Harry didn’t recognize. “Felnook, take Mister Potter down to his vault, he’ll tell you which one. You may go.” He waved at the door, dismissing both golin and wizard.

Harry gave Felnook the vault number when they got to the cart and they sped down to his first vault.

On the way down he repeated to himself the chant that had been running in his head since last night. Mooney called me a master prankster, is that enough for the last shelf to appear? He didn’t call me a master of a normal field, but he clearly respects pranking, so maybe it will work. How specific was dad thinking when he set it up?

These thoughts swirled through his mind as the cart raced down the tunnel. It was so very tempting to visit one of the other vaults, but he already knew what was in each of them, so a visit was unnecessary.

When the school vault was opened Harry took a deep breath. He had to force his legs to move. He wanted so much for that last shelf to be there, he was afraid of what he might see. Finally he got his legs moving and slowly stepped into the vault.

In a back corner, nestled among one of the piles of coins, there was a shelf groaning with slender volumes. Stuck on the front covering three of the books was a parchment.  
Rushing to the shelf Harry snatched the parchment and read it eagerly.

Harry,  
You made it. Congratulations. I don’t know what you’ve mastered as currently you are playing with some blocks on the hearth rug. It’s rather comforting to hear you burbling around there. I don’t know if your mother and I are going to be there for you. I wish we could be, but there is a lot of danger right now.  
Dumbledore told us of a prophecy that was made, which might be about you. Apparently there’s some identifying piece that hasn’t been met yet, and he won’t tell anyone the details until that part comes into play. For now it appears that it could be either you or Neville Longbottom, if you haven’t forged a friendship with him, you should. The Longbottoms have been friends of the family for a few years now. And you should grow up with Neville. Assuming nothing goes wrong.  
I think I’ve figured out what Moldy did, if you read the three books behind this note you should figure it out yourself. Though your mother is the expert. You should try to find her notes, she keeps them in a hidey hole somewhere in the cottage, so you’ll have a search of it.  
While all of these books are useful, and likely at least one will help you in your chosen field, I strongly recommend the three behind this note be the first you read. They should help you to survive the dark times ahead of you. However, these journals fall under the heading of family magic, only share them with those you consider to be close family. Several of them are not legal by ministry standards.  
Remember that your mother and I love you very much, and no matter what, we’ll be rooting for you. Use whatever you need to live and build a life for yourself that you love. Don’t allow the ministry’s strict and thin ideas to constrain you in your choices, forge ahead, and find the path that is right for you.  
I love you son,  
James Charluss Potter

Harry was able to read this letter from his father without breaking down. He wondered if that was because he had already had one before, or if it was because he was older, and perhaps a bit more mature. But the words of his father were still comforting.

He ran a finger along the spines of the three volumes the parchment had covered, making sure he would be able to identify them again later. There were no titles on any of these books, but as they were most likely more journals of his ancestors he wasn’t surprised.

Quickly levitating the shelf into his library, he threw a sheet over it making a note to look up a more effective means of hiding the shelf. 

An hour later he was tucked into a corner at the Grangers reading the first of the three journals.

“Travel portals Harry?” Nicholas asked when Harry had explained his idea a few days later. “Hmm, I’ve heard of the idea, but I don’t know of anyone who’s ever managed to do it. Although most of the stories come out of Russia, or the Orient. So it is possible that it has been done, just not by anyone I’ve ever met.”

“So, do you think it can be done? Or am I wasting my time?” Harry asked, hoping he hadn’t spent hours upon hours researching and considering how he might be able to create the travel portals he had in mind.

“Oh, it’s never a waste of time to ask a question. Nor to seek an answer. Even when the answer isn’t what you wanted it to be. Tentatively, I would say that, yes it is possible. However, I have no idea how it could be done. It’s not anything I’ve ever looked into. How much research have you done so far?”

Reaching into his pack Harry pulled out the notes he had made on the idea, passing them over to Nicholas.

After leafing through them Nicholas smiled. “Well, you’ve already taken the first step I thought of. Breaking down the process of apparition, and portkeys, to see if you could restructure the magic for a different purpose was very smart. Too bad it didn’t work. Looks like it took a while, or was that due to classes and other obligations?”

“Mostly other obligations. I haven’t really had a lot of time to work on this, because it was low on my priority list. It’s just moved up on the list though, and I want to have a working model ready by the end of the school term.”

“Well, you may need a brain wave,” seeing the confusion on Harry’s face, Nicholas elaborated, “inspiration, in order to proceed with the idea. I’ve always found that switching topics, and allowing my mind to percolate the idea for a bit helps. So let’s try that. What’s made this idea a priority for you?”

“Well, John and I had an idea about a safe house. A place for us to hide when Moldy gets a new body, if we need it. And John found the perfect place. But it’s far enough away that we want a means of getting there magically that no one else knows about. That way it can’t be tracked, or at least not easily. I’m also going to be studying wards really hard this year. I want to be sure the place is really well protected.”

“Good reason.” Nicholas said nodding. “Hmm, okay, let’s do something unrelated and let the idea percolate for a bit. How about making me one of those excellent rings, if you don’t mind.”

Harry chuckled. “Not at all, the lab’s upstairs.”

A couple of hours later they found Hermione at the table they had vacated looking over the notes he had made on the portals. “Oh, Harry, Mr. Flamel, I’m sorry if I wasn’t supposed to look at this. It was just sitting here, and I was curious.”

“Not a problem Hermione.” Nicholas held up a hand to stall her. “In fact, it’s just possible that you may have spotted something we missed. Have you any thoughts on how we might achieve the desired goal?”

Hermione’s cheeks turned a vivid pink, but she responded gamely enough. “Oh, well, umm, when Harry first mentioned it I was thinking it might be something like a wormhole, or maybe a tesseract. But that doesn’t seem to be the direction he’s going.”

Harry sat down hard. He had initially thought of something like a wormhole, but as he researched portkeys and apparition, he had forgotten about that. Nicholas however hadn’t heard of such things and asked for an explanation.

Twenty minutes later when Hermione had exhausted her information on the theory of wormholes, Harry began to listen to her spiel on tesseracts, as he was not familiar with that concept himself.

“A tesseract is a fold in space. A point where two points that are normally far apart, are for a moment, right next to each other. As no one has ever observed one, it’s only a theory, but it sounds like what Harry has in mind.”

Harry grabbed a sheet of paper and a pen. He quickly drew two circles on the sheet, one on each end of the paper. “Okay so, basically a tesseract is an occurence in which these two points.” He pointed to the two circles. “Become one point.” He folded the sheet so that the two circles were touching. “And so, you could step between them in a single motion, without having to cross the space in between.” For a moment he fell silent, eyes staring off into nothing. “So, if we make one arch, in two pieces the arch could be in two different locations, but still be one arch, so you could pass from one to the other.”

“Umm, yeah, Harry, that’s what I was.” But Harry interrupted her.

“Hermione, you’re a genius!” He practically screamed, sweeping her into a hug. “That’s amazing, we’ll need some things. Nicholas can you help with the theory?”

“Of course Harry, I would be proud to be a part of this.”

The remainder of the evening, the two had their heads together pouring over books, and jotting down notes. Come morning, Harry informed John that the travel problem would be solved by the end of term.

“Heya Harry.” Bill said sitting down at the table where Harry was working the arithmancy for the portals. It had proved difficult as it was more advanced than what he had been studying in class so far.

Looking up, glad of the excuse to take a break Harry smiled at Bill. “Hey Bill, good to see ya. How’s work been?”

“Pretty good Harry, I’ve almost finished with my current project, and I have permission to return to Britain for my next assignment, which it sounds like is going to be an island.” He said with a wink. “Funny you should mention business though. Do you remember that house we visited over the summer. The one I said we would go back to if you were feeling up to it?”

Harry blinked trying to recall the place, after a moment it came to him. “Oh, the place in little Hangleton. Yeah, umm, I read through those books, but I didn’t have much chance to practice taking down blood wards.” Glancing around as though worried someone might be listening in Harry lowered his voice to continue. “I did find where we can get copies of the books though. Their legal, but most stores won’t carry them. And they can’t be owled to Hogwarts. I did manage to order them, but I have to go to the store to pick them up. It’s in knockturn alley.”

Bill blanched. “Wow Harry, that’s some dedication. I can take you there today, I already made arrangements to take you out today anyway, in case you were feeling up to trying the house again. Not too much trouble to stop by the store on the way. There is something I found that might give you an edge in getting through the wards. I’m a little reluctant to tell you though, I don’t want you to freak out.”

Harry leaned back and stared at the redhead. “Umm, okay, now I’m freaking out a little. Go ahead, it surely isn’t too bad.”

“I wouldn’t be too sure of that.” Bill paused to run a hand through his hair and take a deep breath. “Okay, so I looked up the family tree of Tom Riddle. Going back about thirteen generations, there’s a connection to the Peverells. On a whim, I checked yours.”

Harry cut him off. “Ignotus Peverell is my fourteen times great grandfather. Let me guess, his is Cadmus.”

“Yeah, how did you know.”

“I looked it up a while ago. And dad left me some things in my school vault. Ignotus, and his brother Cadmus were noted as the source of the Potter’s love of crafting. Though Cadmus married into a different family.”

“Wow, well the important part for the wards, is that there is a family relation, even if it is far removed. That should give you a bit of an edge in getting through the wards. If you’re willing to try. It could be dangerous, we won’t have any idea of what the wards will do if we get it wrong.”

“If he left any notes, they may help us when we have to fight him. It’s worth the risk. I’m in.”

“Alright we should get going then.”

“Let me get all this packed up, couple minutes.”

Little Hangleton was the same as it had been during the summer, with the exception of snow. They apparated to the same place they had the first time, and hiked up to the Riddle house. The caretaker met them on the lawn again, and once more Bill confunded him to get them through.  
The basement was equally unchanged, and when Harry hissed “open” the hidden door revealed itself again.

“Okay, now for the hard part. At least I got a bunch of practice with casting in parseltongue this year.” Harry settled back on his heels and took several deep breaths to calm himself. Wanting the extra power for this he pulled his staff out of his pack and began the complex process of taking down the wards.

Bill watched in fascination as the young man he was beginning to think of as another younger brother pulled a walking stick from his backpack and began to work with it as though it were a wand. When a pale light began to grow from the stick he realized that it must be a magical staff. But where had the boy gotten such a thing. He had looked into them when he had been at Hogwarts. The last person who knew how to make them had died three hundred years ago, and no records of the process remained. So how did Harry have one, he wondered, and resolved to ask when they were done here.

The light slowly grew, and as it did, it darkened. Gaining a reddish hue, which slowly darkened from a pale blush, through rose, to ruby, to blood, to burgundy, until finally the light seemed to shatter as though it had been a formation of glass that was struck by a hammer. In that same moment Harry seemed to deflate and crumpled to the floor.

“Harry.” Bill cried as he rushed to the boys side. A few quick checks showed him that Harry was alive, and breathing. However as Bill was not a healer, he was unsure what was wrong, or how severe the problem was. Harry could be enjoying a nice nap, or he could be in a spell induced coma, and Bill would hardly be able to tell the difference. He decided to try to wake the messy haired youth though. If Harry was just tired from the exertion, then he could take the time to copy the books before leaving. If not then he needed to get Harry to a healer quickly.

“Harry, Hary wake up. Please Harry, tell me you’re okay.”

“Hmmm.” Harry mumbled as his eyes fluttered open. “Get books.” He managed to slur out before sliding back into unconsciousness.

Making a snap decision, Bill quickly made copies of everything in the small room then returned to Harry. “Harry, come on Harry. I need you to close the door again before we leave. Come on Harry.”

A very groggy Harry blinked up at the redhead and slurred out a hissed “close”. The door slid back in place and Bill gathered Harry up and apparated back to the Burrow.

Returning to consciousness Harry stretched and yawned. Looking around, he noted that he was at the Burrow, except he didn’t recall going to the Burrow. Fortunately the twins were nearby and looking at him. “Morning guys, umm, how did I get here?”

“Bill brought you in yesterday. Mum called in the local healer. You had severe magical exhaustion. Bill wouldn’t say what you had been doing.”

“Yeah, be glad you were asleep mate. Mum burned half the house down with how loud she yelled at Bill. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him go so red.”

“Mum can get scary when she’s like that. Once we were sure you were okay, just needed rest. Mum brought you up here and ordered us to let you sleep.”

“You’ve been out for almost sixteen hours mate. Mum was getting worried when you didn’t wake up for breakfast. Everyone’s been by to see you though.”

“Wow, I should apologize to Bill. Maybe something to drink first though.” Harry finally found the energy to reply to the twins stream of thought.

“Come on.” They said bouncing off the bed where they had been sitting. “Mum will have something downstairs. You’ll have to wait for Bill though, he had to go into the office for something this morning. Wouldn’t say what.” As they chattered they each grabbed one of Harry’s arms and hauled him out of the room and down the stairs.

When they entered the kitchen Molly turned and cried out when she saw Harry. “You’re awake. I was so worried. I don’t know what Bill was thinking taking you off on some fools errand that put you in danger.”

Harry decided to head her off before she got going and wrapped her in a hug. “Thank you for taking care of me Mrs. Weasley. But don’t blame Bill. He explained all the risks, and had me study the process for what we were doing before we went. I volunteered to try because I had the best chance at success due to a family relation. It’s entirely my own fault that I was exhausted, so please don’t blame Bill.”

She frowned down at him, but after a moment wrapped him in one of her bone crushing hugs. “You really are a remarkable young man Harry. I’ll try not to be too mad at Bill, but you should apologize to him. I’m afraid I gave him a rather harsh talking to last night.”

“I already planned to, but I guess that will have to wait. Unless he’s back already.”

“No, dear he’s still out. Well, I suppose you’re hungry. Give me a minute dear and I’ll have something ready for you. Would you like some tea while you wait?”

“Umm, milk if you’ve got it. Thanks mum.” It took Harry a moment to realize what he had said. He was so used to hearing the Weasley children call her that, he didn’t think about it, and it just slipped out. Worried he might have offended the woman he risked a peek up at her face.

Molly was beaming at him, he didn’t think he’d ever seen her so happy. She wrapped him in yet another bone crushing hug. It didn’t seem possible but he would swear this one was even tighter than the last. Going red, he realized that she was kissing his hair and cheeks. “Oh, Harry dear. You’re such a sweet boy.” She said with a last squeeze. “Go on, have a seat at the table. I’ll have a plate ready for you in a minute, and a big glass of milk too.”

The twins took the opportunity to tease him about his slip of the tongue, and were pleased when Molly brought them a pair of small plates too.

By lunch everyone except the elder Grangers had come to the Burrow to see Harry. The apology to Bill had gone well enough. Bill had simply hugged the young Potter and asked not to be scared like that again. John and Jean, who had to work, arrived just before dinner, pleased to see that Harry was up and moving.

Some discussion and debate had resulted in the Lovegoods agreeing to put off gift exchange until the twenty fourth with everyone else. So the Yule celebration stuck to food and games, with a simple ritual at midnight, and a second at daybreak to welcome the sun back from its long rest.

Everyone agreed that it was fun, and that they would do it again the next year.

Christmas was entirely different, and the Lovegoods made it even more so. While most of the odd family came down to breakfast and presents in various pajamas, Luna showed up in a muggle reindeer costume, while Xeno was dressed as Father Christmas. Although that gave Harry an idea.

“Dobby.” He called.

“Master Harry Potter sir called Dobby.” The little elf said as he appeared in front of Harry.

“Yes Dobby, I have a present for you, and a request.” He handed the elf a wrapped gift.

“Oh, Harry Potter thinks of Dobby at Christmas. Harry Potter is truly a great wizard sir.” Dobby broke down in tears, and took a few minutes to calm him down so he could open his gift.  
Dobby cheered when he finally opened his present to find a suit of dark green and red fur trimmed clothes. When he pulled them on, everyone had to hold in their laughter. It was a Christmas elf costume. Dobby now looked like one of Santa's helpers.

“You look great Dobby. Would you be willing to deliver some gifts for me?” Harry asked when his smallest friend proudly showed off his new clothes.

“Oh, yes Harry Potter, yes. Dobby would love to deliver presents for the great Harry Potter.”

“Thank you Dobby.” It took a minute to pull all of the packages out of his trunk where he had stored them. “These are for each of the members of the Alliance. It’s important that the recipients be the only ones to see them. Can you manage that Dobby?”

“Absolutely Harry Potter sir. Dobby can be doing it.” The elf responded, and with a snap of his fingers, Dobby and all the packages vanished.

“What did you get everyone Harry?” Ron asked.

“Well, not including everyone here, a few different things. Some of them got gift cards to muggle shops, a few got emergency charms that will block a spell or two, most got cards though.” Harry answered.

“That was nice of you Harry.” Molly said spooning eggs onto a plate. She insisted on eating before presents, but no one complained as Molly’s cooking was fantastic.

Dobby reappeared as they were clearing the table of the breakfast dishes and announced. “Presents all delivered Master Harry Potter sir. Can Dobby be doing anything else for the great Harry Potter sir.”

“Thank you Dobby. Have you eaten yet?” At Dobby’s nod he smiled. “Well then, would you like to play Father Christmas and pass out the gifts from the tree? Assuming that’s okay with everyone else?”

When the rest of the family agreed that Dobby was welcome to pass out the gifts Dobby broke down in tears again. “Dobby would be proud to do this for Harry Potter’s family.” He said tearfully.

Soon they were all seated around the tree with Dobby floating gifts to everyone. It took some explaining to get him to do it that way though. At first he had simply snapped his fingers and every single present had landed in front of its recipient. After they explained that it should be done one gift at a time he moved them all back under the tree and began handing them out slowly.

Most of the gifts this year were fairly plain, as most of the family had pooled what money they could spare for the island. There were a few exceptions though. Bill, Charlie, Arthur, Molly, and Xeno all goggled at the demonstration of magic put on by those still at Hogwarts with their rings. And cheered when they learned that Harry would make one for each of them later in the day. Sirius broke down in tears when he opened Harry’s gift of a new wand, which almost exactly matched his old one. Ron had to be awakened from an impromptu nap when he opened the card from Harry to discover season tickets to the Chudley Cannons games. Arthur was in heaven when he opened a package containing a set of muggle do it yourself repair books. Harry was treated to a friendly prank when the twins and Bill announced that they had followed his example and hid his gifts, handing him a map to find them.

Despite the lack of money spent on gifts though, no one had been left out or forgotten, and most of the gifts had been well considered. Everyone was well pleased and later well stuffed when Molly brought out christmas dinner.


	44. Chapter 44

The remainder of the break was a whirlwind of activity. They finalized the agreements on the island, and took a second trip out to it. This time renting a boat of their own, and spending the night. With Harry, Bill, and Sirius working together they were able to identify the anchor for the curse. Unfortunately it was well below sea level, making it difficult to get to. After some arguments, it was agreed that they would need to wait for warmer weather, as they would have to dive along the shore to see if there was an underwater cave that perhaps led to the anchor.

Back on the train to Hogwarts Harry got a surprise. Shortly after leaving London, Neville Longbottom appeared at the entrance of the cabin the five friends had settled in. “Hey guys, how was your Christmas?” He asked. After the round of cheerful responses he looked at Harry. “Harry I was hoping I could have a word with you in private.”

Curious Harry agreed and pulled his trunk out. “Sure Neville, I wanted to talk to you too.” Opening the trunk he indicated for the other boy to follow him in. Once they were seated at the table he had added to his library he opened the conversation. “So, umm, I’m not sure what you wanted. But I learned over the holiday that we were supposed to grow up together.”

“We were?” Neville asked. “I knew our parents were friendly, but I didn’t know they were that friendly.”

“I found a letter my dad left me in my vault. It said that he and your dad had been friends, and that we would have seen a lot of each other because of that.”

“Wow, I never knew. I’m sorry Harry, if I had known that I would have tried to talk to you sooner.”

“Same here Neville. But we didn’t know, and there’s no use complaining about things we didn’t know. Instead we should move on from here with the newly gained knowledge. So, I would like to extend the hand of friendship to you.” He offered his hand as he said this. Having spoken with the adults about what his father had written, he had some idea of how to approach this situation.

Neville reached out hesitantly and took Harry’s hand. “I welcome your hand and your friendship, and offer my own in return.” Apparently Neville was familiar with the minor ritual Xeno had explained that Harry had liked and decided to go with. “Thanks Harry, it means a lot that you’d want to be my friend. Even if my magic isn’t very strong.”

“Bah, the strength of your magic is unimportant. What matters is whether you’re willing to stand with me. Besides if you want to get better, I can help with that. Speaking of, what are you doing over the summer? I might have a project you could help with.”

“Me, what could I help with?”

“Herbology project. I expect I’ll need some help getting some things planted, and possibly some greenhouses set up. If you’re available.”

“I can do that. I like plants.”

“So I’ve heard, hence why I thought of you to help.”

“I’ll have to ask gran, but I’d love to help.” Neville seemed to grow an inch taller with the knowledge that Harry wanted his help.

“Great, I’m looking forward to it.” Harry smiled and clapped his hands together. “So, your turn, what did you want to talk to me about?”

“Right, umm, okay, so I had a talk with my great uncle Algy over the break. He’s an unspeakable, umm, they do research for the ministry. When I asked him about ways someone could come back from the dead he looked at me funny, and started asking all sorts of questions. I had to tell him about what you told us about,” the round faced boy seemed to struggle with himself for a moment, “him.” It was clear he meant Voldemort, but was unwilling to say the name. “He mumbled a bit for a while, but then he told me there was a prophecy, that said one of the two of us would be the end of, him. I got him to agree to tell me what it says, but he said that because it was relabelled with your name after, well,” he motioned to Harry’s scar, “so you would have to be there. He’s willing to take us down to hear it any time, we just have to let him know when. I didn’t have time to get ahold of you before today though, so we’ll have to wait until summer, unless we can find a way to sneak out of Hogwarts.” He chuckled at the suggestion expecting Harry would share in the joke.

“Hmm, I have a way for us to get out of the school. A couple actually, but we might want to wait a bit anyway. Dad’s letter mentioned the prophecy too. But he didn’t know the exact wording. I definitely agree that we should hear it though. Until we do, we should keep it between us. Just in case we don’t want to share when we do hear it.”

“Agreed.” Neville nodded sharply. “It’s kind of scary to think about.” He gave Harry a surreptitious look, waiting to see how the green eyed boy would react.

“Tell me about it.” Harry responded. “I’m trying not to think about it, but it’s rather hard. Though with the plans we’re making for fighting him, it kind of makes sense.”

“I hadn’t thought of that. I guess maybe I shouldn’t be too surprised. I wish I was better at magic though, maybe then I wouldn’t be so scared.”

‘’There’s nothing wrong with being scared Neville. There’s a muggle saying I heard last year. Courage is not the lack of fear, but the ability to face it. I think it fits. I’m scared of what’s going to happen, and worried that we won’t be ready, or that our plans will blow up in our faces. But I’m still going to try. And I’d be honored to have you stand with me. And hey, if you want to get better at magic, I’ll help, we’ll spend some extra time this term in the training area.”

Neville looked taller when he heard that Harry was proud to have him on side. “Okay Harry, I’ll work hard, and I’ll prove myself worthy of your friendship.” He held out his hand again, and Harry took it with a smile.

“Alright, now we have all that worked out. Would you like to join us for a movie?”

“Umm, what’s a movie?”

Harry smiled and started setting up the projector.

The dementors were waiting at the gates of Hogwarts this time, however, the teachers were also waiting. They provided a barrier of patroni to allow the students through with minimal trouble.

Back at Hogwarts they settled back into their routines, with the small change that the twins had finally managed to convince the Alliance of the joys of their magical skates and it was now becoming popular to skate along an inch above the floor between classes. Which had Peeves in stitches and Filch practically foaming at the mouth.

Harry meanwhile was delving into his attempts to create his travel portals. He was seen almost daily venturing into the forest with Hagrid to hunt wood and stone that was magically active in the way he needed. Unfortunately, he wasn’t sure what he needed, which meant a lot of trial and error.

Hermione was sinking into books. She had finally decided to join Harry in taking some of the O.W.L.s at the end of the year. She was planning to take the astronomy and history exams and was beefing up her knowledge to be sure she did well.

Luna was simply enjoying her normal classes. Despite her friends efforts to encourage her to drop the ones she didn’t like, she kept all of her classes. Enjoying driving Snape to distraction by talking about how rare and unusual creatures might affect potions. And naps in history.

But then, about halfway through January, came an event that had Harry sweating buckets in abject terror. Luna’s birthday was approaching, the friends had planned a small party for her. The twins had visited the kitchen and arranged a cake, while Hermione had worked out the perfect place to hold the party, being very specific with the come and go room. But Harry had the hardest job of all. He was to join Luna in a traditional birthday ritual. A ritual performed, as she laughingly put it, in their birthday suits. He was expected to be naked, with Luna, for about an hour if he remembered the ritual correctly. And he had a part in the ritual, he had to carry a tray with some of the tools for the ritual, and he had a few lines to say. But he had to be naked, and she would naked. Try as he might, he just couldn’t get that part out of his head. And to make it worse, in the days leading up to Luna’s birthday images of the previous times he had seen her like that kept popping into his head at odd times. Like while he was trying to do his homework, or in the middle of class. Once it had happened in the great hall during dinner, and he had dropped his fork. It was deeply embarrassing, and as much as he wanted to believe John he just couldn’t see how any one else could have this problem.

He was so distracted that even the excitement of the Ravenclaw versus Slytherin Quidditch match was incapable of occupying him for longer than a few minutes at a time. He kept missing his limbs as he attempted to get into his quidditch gear thanks to his brain treating him to thoughts of Luna, dressing and undressing, possibly in front of him. And then again when they kicked off into the air, he was struck be a sudden thought of how nice it might be to have Luna seated in front of him on the broom, rubbing against him as they rose into the air. He almost fell off his broom as it wobbled under his shaky control. 

To make matters worse, between the Slytherins blatant disregard for the rules, their far superior brooms, and the fact that they practiced far more than the Ravenclaws, it was practically guaranteed they would win. Or rather they would have, if Harry hadn’t spotted the snitch a mere eight minutes into the game. Ending with a score of one hundred fifty to thirty.

When the day came, Harry was little more than a ball of nerves. He barely paid any attention in his classes, and was utterly incapable of focusing long enough to even try to do his homework. After classes let out for the day he made his way up to the come and go room, wanting to get ready, and hopefully calm down a bit before time for the ritual. When he got there he set up his tent so they would have a place to change, and could use the shower if they needed to.

With everything ready he sat down to wait for Luna to get there. Unfortunately relaxing seemed to be the opposite of what his body wanted to do. His shoulders were stiff, his toes kept flexing against the floor. And an image of Luna kept dancing through his mind.

Eventually he gave up on relaxing and tried something else. He concentrated for a moment and became a badger, then he ran around the room several times, hoping to work off some of the stress. That didn’t work and after a few minutes he changed back.

Noting that he was now covered in a sheen of sweat he decided to take a shower. As an added bonus, he thought, maybe the hot water will help relax me.

At first that seemed to work. When the water hit his shoulders they did relax a bit, and some of the tension seemed to bleed out of him. That is until he felt a small hand stroking down his back right along his spine. A soft voice accompanied the hand. “You look so much better without the scars. I’m glad they're gone Harry.”

Harry however only heard the first couple of words. When he felt an unexpected hand on him, he jumped and squealed. He landed three feet from where he started and facing a naked blonde haired girl who was standing in his shower.

“Luna, what are you doing?” He almost didn’t notice how high his voice was, but it was too late to do anything about it.

Luna bent over laughing, hands on her knees. “It’s almost time silly. I saw the tent when I got here, but you were missing. Until I heard the shower going, so I came back to see how you were doing. When I saw that you were ready for the ritual I wanted to see how well the cream had done on your scars.”

“Umm, okay, but this is the shower.” He had no idea what he was saying at this point. His mouth was just on auto pilot. He was standing there, trying to cover himself as best he could, and his mouth was just blathering.

Luna laughed even harder. Grabbing up the soap from where Harry had dropped it she stepped under the spray and began to lather. “Come here Harry.” She said beckoning him closer. “Turn around.” She added when he finally stepped towards her. 

Confused he did as she asked, glad to have an excuse to not be looking at her. He nearly jumped away again when he felt her soapy hands on his back. “Stay still and I’ll wash your back for you. Then you can do mine. Then we’ll be all clean for the ritual.”

To his horror, something was happening. Something that had never happened before. Where he was trying to cover himself, something was changing. It took a moment to realize what it was, then a flash of memory came. Sitting with John in his study back home. Talking about girls, and sex, and everything that went with those topics. He looked down and to his horror saw that he was still growing. Viciously he tried to think of anything else, anything other than the feel of Luna’s hands brushing up and down his back, dragging a soapy cloth over his skin. It was a wonderful feel, no. He wrenched his thoughts away from that, he thought of John, explaining about dating, and how embarrassed he had felt listening to stories of John and Jean’s dating days.

To his relief just as Luna finished and reached around his chest to hand him the rag and soap saying, “your turn” he was starting to shrink again. Luna’s almost hug nearly broke his concentration but he held on. When she had turned so he could wash her back he turned to face her, and keeping his body as far from hers as he could manage, he began to wash her back.

“Think about the ritual Harry. Think about the steps to be taken. What do we do first?” Luna spoke quietly. “Come on Harry, what do we do first?”

“Umm,” he tried to wrestle his thoughts around to the ritual without stumbling over the view in front of him. “First we enter the space. Umm, we draw the circle, and place the candles at the four points of the compass.”

“Right, next we kneel in the center and recite the first words. What are they again Harry?”

“Umm,” it was almost torture to drag the information out of his brain but as he did so he found that he was gaining control of his body again. “On this night of birth we rejoice. On this day we remember.”

“Celebrate the coming of Luna Lovegood.”

“Who graces all things by her presence.”

“Excellent Harry. What next?”

“Okay, then we rise, we walk the circle dribbling water around each candle. And return to the north candle for the next bit.”

“Together we give praise.” Luna started the next lines.

“To mother, and father, and nature.”

“For the bounty of life we enjoy.”

“For the happiness we share.”

“And for the chance we have to grow and love.”

“Yes, then we circle again, sprinkling earth around the candles, ending at the western candle.”

“Right, and what do we do there?”

“Umm,” he had to rake through his brain for a moment to find the answer. “Nothing, sort of. We look to the stars and consider the past year, thinking about the things we’ve done, and how we can improve in the upcoming year.”

“Good, for how long?”

“At least five minutes, but no more than fifteen.”

“Yes, that’s right Harry. Okay, then what?”

“Okay, umm, next is another circle, adding our magic to the candles. If it’s done right, the flames should grow a little. We stop at the southern candle, no the eastern candle, because next is the contemplation of the coming year. Where we kneel and consider our plans for the next year. Thinking about what we want to achieve, and how best we can go about reaching our goals.”

“And the last part?”

“Air, we blow out the candles, ending at the southern one. And say the last part.”

“Welcome we the coming dawn.”

“Which shares with all its light.”

“Welcome we the end of day.”

“For without it there is only night.”

“Then we embrace and walk slowly from the space. At which point the ritual is complete and we go to the party.” Luna said as she spun around and wrapped him in a hug.

Spluttering from where her hair had slapped him, Harry tried to push her away, but between her grip and the water making her skin slick he failed miserably. Before he could complain though she let go. “Alright, are you ready?” She asked. A minute later they were heading out of the tent toward the space set up for the ritual.

After Luna’s birthday, time seemed to blend together. The only highlight was visiting Remus for the full moon as a badger. Mooney took a few minutes to acclimate to the presence of the small predator, but once he did they played together until Mooney got tired and fell asleep.

Aside from that evening though, Harry was barely aware of the passage of time. He was so wrapped up in getting the portals working. It took nearly a month, but as Valentines day dawned he finished, he had a prototype pair of archways, that was working.

Now he just had to duplicate his work, and figure out how to add some wards to them. That took a few more days. When he was ready he went in search of Neville.

“Neville, Neville.” He called as he ran down the hallway when he found his newest friend.

“Oh, hey Harry.” Neville said when Harry had caught up to him. “Where’s the fire?”

“Huh? Oh, umm, downstairs. In the dungeons.” Harry replied with a wink, hoping Neville would catch on.

He did. “Oh, umm, we should probably go do something about it then.” He said.

A few minutes later they arrived in the Chamber.

“First off, Neville, I’m sorry I’ve been kind of ignoring you the last month. I’ve been really busy with a project that I’ve just finished. Here I’ll show you.” He led Neville back to the testing room, which had previously been where the basilisk had shed, and probably slept. An arch was set up at either end of the room and Harry waved at Neville and ran through the one closest to them. He ran out the other end at the far side of the room and called back to Neville, who was looking around trying to figure out what had happened to Harry. “Over here Neville.” Harry waved in a big arch to get Neville’s attention.

“Harry, how did you do that?” Neville called across the room.

“Through the arch Neville. Come on.” Harry answered, beckoning for Neville to join him.

Taking a deep breath Neville stepped through the arch. “Wow Harry, that’s really incredible. Where did you get it?” Neville asked.

“I made it Neville. That’s what’s had me so busy. Now it’s done though. We can get to work on our project. Getting to the ministry to visit your uncle, and making you into a great wizard.”

Neville pinked. “Umm.”

“No arguments. We might fail, but first we try. How long will it take to arrange a meeting with your uncle?”

“Umm, maybe a week.” Neville said nervously.

“Alright, let me know when and I’ll get our exit strategy ready. Right now though. What would you say is your worst class?”

“Umm, potions I think.” Neville replied sheepishly.

“None of that. Potions it is then. Come on, we’ll work on that first.”

It did indeed take a week to make arrangements, but they had a meeting set up. The plans for leaving the school were harder. Harry had to make a portal, shrink it, and owl it home, where it was returned to full size and set out of the way. When the day came he and Neville simply stepped from Hogwarts to the Rookery, where they were greeted by Xeno Lovegood. Also where they discovered that long distance travel through the portal left them feeling light headed for a minute.

“I’ll have to see if I can fix that. It’s not too much of a problem, but if you’re in a hurry, or several people are coming through at once, it could cause an accident.” Harry mused as he was recovering.

Once they were feeling right again, Xeno took them to the ministry where they would meet with Nevilles uncle, who would take them down to the hall of prophecy.

Algernon Croker, as the elderly man introduced himself, was an imposing man. Steel gray hair and beard, topped a square face. Sharp, glittering dark brown eyes peered out from behind a pair of square spectacles. And his gray robes seemed bland against all the bright colorful robes everyone else was wearing.

On the elevator Harry pulled out his invisibility cloak and threw it over himself and Neville. “Now no one will know you brought us with you.” He explained to Neville’s uncle.

“Hmmph, unless they saw you come in with me and put it together. Still, good thinking.” The older man replied. “Stay quiet now.” He added when they reached the floor they needed.

The department of mysteries was fascinating, but Algernon wouldn’t let them stop to look at everything. He ushered them through three rooms, so quickly that Harry only caught a glimpse of what was in each room. They stopped in a room that was bigger than the Chamber. It was full of shelves that were taller than Harry could see. And each shelf was full of small crystal balls, some of which were glowing a soft blue, while others were dark.

As they walked down one of the aisles formed by the shelves Algernon explained that the glowing orbs were prophecies that had yet to be fulfilled. While the dark ones were no longer active. Either because they had been fulfilled, or because the events they referred to had passed.

At last they stopped in front of a shelf and Algernon indicated for them to look at a particular orb. The plaque underneath it read; SPT to APWBD, dark lord and (?) Harry Potter. “Take it.” Algernon said as the two boys looked between the plaque, the orb, and the unspeakable. “Only one of those four can touch it.”

Slowly Harry reached up to take the orb, keeping a close eye on the unspeakable. When he was sure the older man was watching his hand closely, he carefully pulled a shrunken hoop from his pocket and dropped it on the floor. When he plucked the orb from the shelf and turned to face the older man he made sure to twist his foot so that the hoop was shoved under the shelves.

“Okay, tap it with your wand, that will cause the recording to play.”

Pulling out his wand Harry tapped the orb. A mist seemed to rise out of the orb, and a ghostly figure of a woman Harry vaguely recognized as Professor Trelawney, the divination teacher at Hogwarts, rose from the orb. The image began speaking in a rough cracked voice, very unlike that of the woman Harry had spoken to last year about her class.

“The one with the power to vanquish the dark lord approaches, Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies. And the dark lord shall mark him as his equal, but he will have power the dark lord knows not. And either must die at the hand of the other, for neither can live while the other survives. The one with the power to vanquish the dark lord will be born as the seventh month dies.”

Harry was speechless, so too was Neville. Algernon however seemed fine. “Yep, that’s it. Replace the orb Mister Potter, it can’t leave this room, or someone will have my head. Do you have it in your head? Good.” He didn’t wait for a response. “Let’s go.”

The walk back out to the atrium seemed to take forever, although that was probably because the prophecy kept playing in Harry’s mind.

When at last they were reunited with Xeno, he quickly led them to the floo and away from the ministry.

They landed in the leaky cauldron. Where Neville finally found his voice. “Why are we here?”

“Special request.” Xeno answered. “Come on.” He led the way out the back to diagon alley. “Harry told me about your trouble with spell work. I have a theory. We’re going to test it, and while we’re at that. Harry has some business with the goblins. Go on Harry.” Xeno pointed down the alley to Gringotts.

Harry really did have business at Gringotts. There were some materials stored in his vaults that he thought would help with his next big project. However the main purpose for his visit was to drop another of the shrunken hoops near one of the vaults.

When he caught back up with Neville and Xeno, Neville was beaming. “Harry, you’ll never guess.”

Harry smiled at his cheerful friend. “Xeno took you to Ollivander's.” He laughed merrily at the sight of Neville looking dumbstruck. “It was my idea Neville. I’ve been learning a lot about wand lore. When I saw what a struggle it was for you to push your magic through your wand I figured you were using a legacy wand, rather than one matched to you. It’s a common misconception that legacy wands will always work well. They usually don’t actually. It’s far better to get a wand matched to you, for the best results. So I asked Xeno to take you to Ollivander’s while I ran an errand at Gringotts.”

Suddenly Harry found himself being lifted off the ground by an ecstatic Neville. “Thank you, thank you, thank you, Harry, you’re the best friend ever.” When he set Harry back on the ground he was looking rather pink.

Laughing again Harry grasped Neville by the shoulder. “You’re very welcome Neville. Glad I could help. Now our practice sessions should be a lot easier. Come on, we need to get back.”

A few minutes later they were walking back through the arch into the Chamber, where a group of students were just beginning a tutoring session for potions.

“Come on Neville, it’s your worst class. The more practice and advice you get, the better.” Groaning with chagrin, Neville followed Harry over to the group.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Harry, I almost feel sorry for him having to deal with the walking confusion that is Luna. And then I fall over laughing at his predicament.


	45. Chapter 45

It took forever for Remus to arrange to teach the Alliance the patronus charm. He had been focusing on lower year spells, but a few days into March he had a large trunk with him at the regular meeting.

“Good afternoon everyone. I know many of you have been wondering when I would get around to teaching you how to drive off a dementor. Well, today we will begin.” He watched as several hands rose. “I’m guessing you want to know about the trunk?” The hands fell and he continued. “A few of your classmates have the dubious honor of having a boggart become a dementor when faced with them. So when you are ready to try the charm for real, I will ask one of them to come up here with me so we that can have almost a real dementor to practice on. First though, we will practice without that handicap. So to begin with the incantation is expecto patronum. Everyone say it with me now.” There was a chorus of “expecto patronum” with only a few people getting it wrong, who were quickly corrected by their friends. “Excellent, you’ll want to practice that a few times to be sure you have it right, go ahead.” There were more choruses for a few minutes before Remus got everyone's attention again. “Okay, now the wand movement is quite simple. A half circle to the left, starting at the bottom of the circle, followed by a quick jab forward at the top of the circle. Go on, try it.” A few minutes of wand practice followed. “Alright, now the hardest part. The wand movement and incantation are not enough for this spell. What you really need, is happiness. The patronus is a sort of super concentrated force of the very energy that dementors feed on, however because the patronus has no negative emotions for the dementor to use against it, the patronus can’t be harmed by the dementor. So you need to focus very hard on a happy memory as you cast your patronus. However I want to warn you, most people are unable to cast this spell, so don’t feel bad if you find it to be beyond you capability. Okay, go on, give it a try.”

There was a chorus of “expecto patronum” along with a range of wand waving, most of which was at least close to what Professor Lupin had described. A few students had a sort of silver mist come out of their wands, most of whom then started hoping and yelling about having gotten something. Most of the students however got no effect at all.

“Alright, alright, settle down. Those of you who got a mist, please move over to my right. Everyone else, keep trying. Only give up after you have given it a strong try. I’m going to have a quick word with those who have had some success, then I’ll come around and see what I can do to help everyone else.”

True to his word, after a brief explanation of the importance of holding very firmly to your happy memory, and a few thoughts on what makes for a good strong happy memory, Remus set the advanced group to continue practicing while he moved over and gave the others some more direct instruction.

Three hours later, no one had managed more than a silvery mist, but several of those who had initially gotten nothing had moved over to the advanced group. Lupin however seemed well pleased.

“Very well done, all of you.” Turning to the group who still had not managed anything he said. “Most people who attempt this spell, and get no effect, as you have. Would have given up by now, so give yourselves a hand for toughing it out, and not giving up.” He clapped his hands together to get them started, and the advanced group joined in. When the noise tapered off he turned to the advanced group. “You guys should be proud, most adult witches and wizards couldn’t manage what you did today. We’ll continue to work on this spell Friday, so I hope to see all of you back here.”

The group broke up in high spirits, with everyone chatting happily.

“Hey Harry, we’ve slacked off. We need to do something to maintain our image as master pranksters.” Fred said when next they were alone. “Would it be too on the nose to make Professor Lupin perform Werewolves of London?”

Harry had to blink through the thought before he replied. “Yes, it would. Not to mention, it could get people thinking, and we don’t want that. But it would be funny as hell if we make Snape do it.”

The twins turned slowly to face him. George was going pale. Fred looked like he was holding in a snort. “He’d kill us. But you’re right, it would be hilarious.”

George, still looking a bit pale, added. “Can we do it without being caught out?”

Scratching his chin Harry took a deep breath. “Probably not. We’ve done a few musical pranks now, and most of the school knows it was us. If we did another one, not only would it seem like we were falling into a rut, everyone would assume it was us again.”

“Damn, that was a good idea too. But you’re right, we need to come up with something else. Hmm, any other ideas?” Fred was looking a little less cheerful.

“What about changing everyone's clothes to a different style?” George offered.

“Hmm, not bad, but what style?” Asked Fred.

“How about, whatever that one with the giant poofy pants is?” Harry opined.

“Parachute pants?” George asked.

“With big poofy shirts.” Added Fred. “It’s a muggle style, so points for that. But I doubt very many will recognize it, and probably only the Slytherins would throw a fit. And we decided a while back that we wouldn’t target them too much.”

“And the last one was a targeted strike at Malfoy.” Harry said. “We should try for something that will be a prank on everyone, or else target a different house.”

“Ooh, I got it.” Said George with a wicked grin. “We charm the house badges to randomly make appropriate animal noises. So the Gryffindor badges will roar, the Ravenclaw shriek, the Slytherin hiss, and the Hufflepuff, Harry what sound does a badger make?”

“Well it’s a , you know what, much easier to just.” He shifted to his badger form and started barking at them.

“Yes, that.” George said through his laughter.

Shifting back to human, Harry cocked his head to one side in thought. “I like it, yeah. Fred?”

“Yes, now, how do we do it?”

The next day was a riot of animal sounds, which only disrupted classes a little.

If anyone had been nearby they would have heard a snuffling in the dark, followed by the scrape of something wooden against stone. Had there been light, this non-existent observer would have seen a black badger climb out of a small hoop on the ground. But no one was nearby in this dark lonely cavern.

Harry had been planning this for three weeks. It had taken months to get everything ready. But at last the day had come. His new robes, unidentifiable, in a muted matte black. The basilisk armor plates hidden underneath layers of cloth, including the bracers around his wrists. One of which held his wand, the other his favorite dagger, which had been imbued with the venom from the basilisk. Around his waist hung a batman style utility belt, which held a few healing potions, scent hiding potions, and other useful such things, including his staff in an expanded holder. Covering his face was a paintball mask, painted with the sign of the deathly hallows, which he had chosen because most people wouldn’t recognize it, and those who did would be confused. It was enchanted so that even in the pitch black of this cavern he could see perfectly, and any form of gas used against him would have no effect as it maintained a small bubblehead, which provided him with breathable air no matter what was around him. Finally a paintball gun hung from his shoulder. It had a multi-compartment hopper, one of which held a combination of prank and smoke bombs, while another held sleeping bombs. It had two other compartments, but these were currently empty. He had a plan for them, but had not yet developed the potion bombs that would fill them.

Gathering up the hoop that had served as his entry, he shrunk it back down to the size of a coin and slipped it into one of the pouches on his belt. Throwing his invisibility cloak over himself he made his way down the tunnel towards his first target.

The Malfoy vault was closest, but not his first goal. When he reached the door to it he merely dropped off the hoop he had used to enter the tunnels, before moving on.

A few times he was glad of the invisibility cloak, as there were a few patrols, which he avoided by the simple expedient of walking up a wall and waiting for the patrol to pass.  
Finally he reached the lower vaults where his first target waited. The Lestrange vault, wherein lay another of the items that could be used to give Riddle a new body. Unfortunately, it also included his first challenge. There was a dragon chained near the vault, and while Harry was sure the cloak would keep him hidden, he was less sure of its ability to prevent the dragon from smelling him. And as far as he knew, the scent masking potion he had sprinkled on himself had never been tested against a dragon.

Sure enough as he approached there was a great gout of flame from the winged reptile. Fortunately it was facing away from him. Unfortunately, it was facing towards the vault he needed. Thinking fast he stooped down and picked up a stone from the floor. Moving around to the side of the beast he threw the stone back the way he came. To his delight the dragon swivelled around and sent a jet of flame in that direction.

Moving cautiously he slipped past the dragon up to the vault door. Now came the real test. Carnock had explained when he first brought Harry down to his high security vault that only a goblin could open these doors. If anyone else tried, they would be sucked through the door and left inside. If that had been incorrect than this was likely to end him, if however it was accurate then his plan should work. Reaching up he laid his hand against the door. 

There was a wrenching, pulling sensation and suddenly he was on the other side. This vault was not quite as large as his own. Although given that the Lestrange’s had been in prison for more than a decade, and most likely had not been wisely invested in the first place, that wasn’t very surprising.

With a swift nod he pulled a second hoop from his belt and laid it on the floor with a quick squeeze to activate the growth charm.

Two hours later the last of the Lestrange treasures had been taken through the portal to the island. Fourteen muggle waterproof chests, magically expanded on the inside, were loaded down. There were so many because he had separated the treasures into different chests. One held galleons, another sickles, a third knuts, the rest were separated into books, non-enchanted jewelry, cursed jewelry, armor, weapons, and so on.

With everything removed from the vault there was only one thing left to do. He reached back through the portal and dropped an incendius potion, then shrunk the hoop back down to its coin size, whipping his hand back through before the portal function deactivated. If he got it right then the hoop would be burned to nothing along with any trace of his presence in the vault, including his aura.

Nodding he reminded himself, “no rest for the wicked” before striding over and through a second portal which returned him to the training room under hogwarts. Returning to his badger form he went back through the portal which would take him outside the Malfoy vault. It was time to reclaim his family’s property.

This vault was going to be harder to break into. Being one of the lower security vaults it needed a key. Which meant anyone could open it, but only with the correct key. As he didn’t have the correct key he had to hope that the mock up he had made would do the trick. Or at least suck him in like the high security vaults did. It was important to his plan that he get inside without setting off the alarm.

With a slightly shaky hand he inserted the fake key and turned. For one terrible heart stopping moment he thought it had failed and there would be an army of goblins coming down on him. Then he felt that same sucking, pulling sensation.

The Malfoy vault was much larger than the Lestrange vault had been. This was going to take a lot longer.

Six hours, it was getting dangerously close to time for breakfast back at Hogwarts, and he wondered if he was going to have to quit before he finished. There were more chests this time, as he had tried to separate his family’s property from Malfoy’s. He wasn’t sure if he had managed to do so completely, but the effort was made. He would have to wait for another day to come back and sort through everything, right now he needed to get back to Hogwarts and down an energy potion before heading to the great hall.

Seated at his research table Harry looked over the journal of his so many greats grandfather, Ignotus Peverell. The journal that had been bound to this one was interesting, but not very useful. It had been added to by almost every Potter since the family had acquired Ignotus’ journal. Most had written in comments like, “I wish I could do what he did.'' But the important part was the effort that had gone into tracking the masterpiece of Ignotus’ brother Antioch, the elder wand.

In his journal Ignotus had written of his brothers, Antioch and Cadmus, the three of them had been craftsmen of great repute. And they had challenged each other one day to create something unique, to prove which of them was the best at their art. According to Ignotus the challenge was never decided, as Antioch died soon after, and Cadmus fell to depression.

The attached journal made many comments that made it clear the Peverell brothers were clearly the three brothers of the famous tale. And the importance of keeping that information within the family, for two reasons. First because people would start expecting everyone in the family to be that good, or start attacking the children in the hope of getting hold of the cloak. And second because it made for a great prank to watch people running around debating over whether the story was real or not.

Ignotus’ journal outlined the process and method he used to create the cloak, and Harry was interested in making the attempt to recreate it. The journal also explained how both the elder wand and the death stone had been made, though only in broad concepts.

The death stone, so named because of how it was made, was the result of Cadmus efforts to create an object that would “perform” all manner of necromantic rituals, in the same way that the invisibility cloak “casts” a disillusionment spell. How well it worked, Ignotus was unsure. He had only seen it used once, to summon the spirit of Cadmus wife, who had passed the year prior. However Cadmus claimed that the stone could “perform” several of the rituals involving spirits, and a couple involving corpses, but Ignotus never witnessed any proof of that.

Antioch on the other hand, created a wand like no other. According to Antioch it wasn’t even a wand. It was in fact a staff, made like a rod, with the dimensions of a wand. So that it could be used by anyone, but have the power of a staff, and the portability of a wand. Unfortunately, Ignotus never saw it used. He heard from Antioch what he was planning, and that he had finished it and would be visiting soon to show off. The next he heard of his oldest brother was that he had been killed at a roadside inn, the wand taken.

Unfortunately for Harry, it was the wand he was now trying to work out how to recreate. He thought briefly of contacting Ollivander about his idea, however as Ollivander knew wands, and what he was creating wasn’t actually a wand, it seemed a waste of time. He had all kinds of information at his fingertips, on the crafting of all manner of foci, from his family’s journals. He even toyed with the idea of trying to create a ring with the power of a staff. He dropped it after a moment of thought however. The only way that would work is if the core material were mixed in with the potion, and that would change the properties of the potion, and as much as he was good at potions, he wasn’t that good, and he wasn’t ready to take this to the twins. So a wand it was.  
However, unlike Antioch, he wasn’t terribly interested in anyone being able to use the wand he would create. The first attempt would be made exactly like a staff, just shorter.

A week later he threw the failed attempt into the fire. There simply wasn’t enough length to hold enough core material to serve the purpose. Maybe he needed to look at how rods were made again, and use that as a model for this.

A few days later he had a working rod, which was cool, but kind of useless. Rods were primarily good for combat magics, shielding and offensive spells. While they could perform other magics, rods were really bad at any kind of non-combat magic. The one good thing to be said about them was that his combat spells were stronger with the rod, than with his wand, and almost as strong as with his staff.

When his third attempt failed, he went back to the proverbial drawing board. Delving deep into the theory of focus crafting. Then he realized he needed to, ack, do some arithmancy. Several days later he thought he had a working plan. He needed thirteen traditional wand cores anchored in a crystalline matrix as the core, which would be set in the expanded interior of the wand, which would need to be a very strong wood.

Pulling out his reference guide to wand cores and woods, he got to work. It took a couple of days but at last he had his list of materials, several of which he had immediately available. Phoenix feather obviously, and its american counterpart thunderbird, dragon heartstring, unicorn hair for healing, and its balance thestral hair, holly vein, and mistletoe leaf for warding, bicorn horn, basilisk bone, and shark tooth for combat, jackalope tendon, kitsune hair, and grindylow tentacle. For the crystal matrix, he would use diamond, he thought it might have been emerald to match his eyes, but magic isn’t always so poetic.

The next two weeks he spent studying hard for his end of year exams as he had to wait for a few of the materials to arrive by owl.

When at last he had everything he got to enjoy another long night, as it took nearly seven hours to fit it all together. But finally it was ready to be tested.

Harry took a deep breath, and tried to push the tension from his back and shoulders. It didn’t work. His first attempt at this did nothing, seventeen attempts to push his magic through the wand, and nothing. The second managed to produce a few sparks before it simply fell apart. The third exploded, rather spectacularly, though by some sort of miracle he wasn’t injured.

Raising the wand slowly he quietly intoned “lumos” pushing just a small amount of magic into the wand. If he had gotten it right, the wand would light up about as much as his usual wand, if not.

A light appeared at the end of the wand, wan at first it quickly grew brighter, and brighter, and soon was too bright to look at. Confused Harry pulled his magic back from the wand. Then he realized what he had done. The brighter the light had gotten the happier he had felt, and as his joy grew his grip on his magic had slipped. More and more of his magic had been allowed to flow to the wand, making the light brighter. He needed to practice more control. It took another hour before he was confident that he would be able to control his magic enough to use the wand correctly.

If it weren’t so very late, he would have been jumping and whooping, as it was he only just managed to trudge his way to a bed. He was asleep before his head hit the pillow.

The final quidditch match of the year, Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw approached in a flurry of Harry and the twins pranking each other mercilessly. They had agreed not to target the teams, so they traded hair changing charms, skin color changes, and the like.

On the day of the game Harry was actually relaxed for a change. The Ravenclaw team, was aware that they were unlikely to win, unless Harry pulled off another miracle catch, which was highly unlikely. And Harry now had enough experience of the game that he wasn’t concerned about performing well.

The game itself ended up being rather boring. After the first twenty minutes Harry started ignoring the commentary, another ten and he was ignoring the action. Gryffindor had already managed eighty points, and showed no signs of slowing down. 

He thought to himself as he flew around above the other players, watching for the snitch, that if he were interested in pursuing a career in quidditch that he might think about how to help the chasers score. But he really wasn’t. After two years of playing on the house team, he realized that while he loved flying, and the thrill of the chase and catch, he wasn’t actually interested in doing this long term.

The snitch seemed to be in a hiding mood today, as it was over an hour into the game before it showed itself, and Harry glanced to the scoreboard to see if it was a bad time to catch the annoying little ball. Gryffindor one hundred eighty, Ravenclaw forty. Wow his team kind of sucked. There was no way they could catch up at this point, so he shot off after the glittering ball.

The Gryffindor seeker had also seen the snitch and in a moment was on Harry’s heels. Harper was also on a Nimbus 2000, so Harry’s advantage was lost. He clearly had been spending more time practicing than Harry had recently. Between studying for exams, and working on projects, Harry hadn’t taken much time of late to fly, let alone practice snitch chasing.

Fortunately the Gryffindor team prefered to win by skill, rather than cheating, so while they jostled each other, Harper wasn’t trying to knock him off his broom, or foul him up in some other way. Instead he was pouring on all the speed he could manage, which was proving to be a hair more than Harry could. Harper was pulling ahead, and the snitch was still far ahead. If he caught it, Ravenclaw would win, still. If he let it go, they would suffer their worst loss in several years. He leaned forward trying to get just a little more speed from his broom. It worked, he was keeping pace.

Ten feet from the snitch, Harper did something unexpected. He rolled over so that he was hanging from his broom. In the same move he seemed to lay just a little flatter, and he picked up speed. Trying to lessen his own air resistance Harry leaned forward. Instead of getting faster the broom dipped. He pulled up fast, afraid he would crash into Harper, and probably land them both in Madam Pomfrey’s infirmary.

However he had taken his eye off the snitch, and in the moment it took him to reorient, it was over. Harper caught the snitch. Final score, Ravenclaw forty, Gryffindor three hundred thirty.  
To everyone’s surprise however, the Gryffindor’s invited the Ravenclaw team to join them in celebration, in the Gryffindor common room.

The party ran very late, and included many pranks on the winning team.

Harry had another project that he wanted to complete. The language crystals had given him an idea. He could make a crystal that would instruct someone in the art of occlumency. Which would allow him to progress beyond what professor Flitwick was able to teach. Unfortunately it would take some research, and probably a lot of work. And it was getting close to exam time, which meant he really needed to knuckle down and do some serious study.

He argued with himself through his classes and finally sat down with Hermione to ask her opinion.

“Harry, that sounds like a great idea, and when you get them made I want one. But you’re right, you really need to focus on studying right now. Save the crystals for the summer. We’ll have time then.”

“Yeah, along with finishing the cleanup of grimmauld place, and the island. But yeah you’re right. I should focus on classes. Helping Neville practice has been good for that. He’s actually pretty good at potions when he isn’t worrying about someone breathing down his neck. And with his new wand, his spell casting has improved a lot.”

“Yeah I noticed that too. Speaking of, when are we doing the thing with the contracts?”

“I think it’s planned for about a week before exams. I’ve almost got all the portals made, it’s a good thing that once I got them figured out, actually making them was easy. I’d hate to think what we’d have to do if it had been a lengthy process.”

“Yeah. Okay, let's get to work.”

“Alright everyone, welcome to our last patronus lesson this year. If anyone is unable to produce one today, don’t worry. Thanks to Harry’s efforts I’ll be able to return next year regardless of the curse on the defence position to continue helping you all with this, and other spells. So, let’s get started.”

Remus’ lessons on the patronus charm had continued, twice a week, and a little under half of the Alliance was now able to produce one, even with the boggart dementor. Many others were able to produce a faint patronus, but lost it quickly if the trunk was opened. There were still a few though who couldn’t even get a mist to appear, and it was to these students that Lupin went to offer assistance.

Harry had managed to produce a patronus, which had nearly caused Remus to fall over. Not, he explained because of surprise that Harry was able to perform the charm, but because of the form of his patronus. Harry’s patronus appeared as a large stag, he knew that was his father's animagus form, but Mooney confirmed that Harry’s patronus exactly matched his father’s form.  
He had not however yet managed to drive the boggart dementor back with his patronus, which was what he planned on doing today.The advanced group were taking turns trying their patroni on the dementor.

When it was Harry’s turn he stepped up and raised his wand. The trunk was opened, and out of it flowed the ragged black cloak and rattling breath of the damned thing. It turned toward Harry and began to approach him. “Expecto Patronum” Harry called.

The stag burst from his wand in the face of the dementor. It glared at the horrid figure and stalked toward it, waving its antlered head. The creature fought, it moved back only an inch then tried to push forward. Harry poured a little extra power into his wand, pushing it to the patronus. The dementor was forced back again. Back and forth they went, the dementor fighting every inch, but at last after what felt like minutes, the foul thing was pushed back into the trunk.

Cheers burst from those around him, who had been encouraging him for a few weeks. Many of them had thought he would be the first to get it. Later they wondered if he was holding himself back so as not to outshine the others. But as they watched him struggle with the spell they accepted that while he was famous, he wasn’t a prodigy. Sure he was advanced in a few subjects, but that was mainly due to his practice of studying hard every day. A practice many of them had also adopted. Even Ron, the twins younger brother had decided to put more effort into his homework when he saw that everyone else was surging ahead of him in class. Not wanting to be last, he was asking for help and attending the tutoring sessions offered by the older Alliance kids.


	46. Chapter 46

As exams drew closer, Harry was in a pickle. He really needed to study hard for the O.W.L.’s he was about to take. But his idea for the occlumency crystals kept jumping up and down in his head, and now there was another plan brewing in the back of his head. A way to put the patronus into a potion bomb for the paintball gun. That one would need to be handed over to the twins though, as he wasn’t a potions genius like they were.

He was down in the chamber stewing over these thoughts, with a dozen books laid out in front of him, trying to study for exams, when a new distraction appeared in the form of Daphne Greengrass.

“Harry, I want to talk to you about something.” She said as she approached and took a seat across from him at the table.

Looking up from a line he had already tried to read three times, grateful for the distraction he looked at the rather pretty blonde girl seated across from him. “Okay Daphne, how can I help?”

The girl took a deep breath to steady herself and began to speak. “Everyone knows that Professor Snape is a horrible teacher. What isn’t commonly known is that he was a death eater. My father was at his trial. Dumbledore testified that he had turned spy for our side, and Professor Snape was let off. There’s a lot of debate in Slytherin house on the issue. With the way he treats the other houses, and especially the way he treats muggle-borns, most think he lied to Dumbledore for a lighter sentence. But I’ve talked with Tracey about her meetings with him. He’s perfectly polite to her, Tracey is convinced that he genuinely switched sides. I was wondering if there was a way for us to be sure. If he is on our side he could help a lot with any potions work. And he’s really good at defence too, he offers tutoring to any Slytherin who wants it, and they always do well on the owls and newts.”

“Hmm,” Harry scratched his chin as he thought for a moment, “while I’m not sure that I would trust him in a tutoring position like Professors Flitwick and Lupin, I agree it would be really useful to have him help with potions though. I have a way to be sure of his loyalties but it wouldn’t be easy. And we’d need to keep it quiet, I’m not sure how most people would react. Let’s set it for Friday night. Can you be away from the common room for an evening without being noticed?”

“I think so, should I bring anyone else along?”

“If you think any of your fellow Slytherins would want to be here for it, yes. Just come down as usual, but when everyone else heads out, stay. I’ll get Snape, it won’t be easy, but I can do it. The questioning won’t take more than an hour, so you’ll just be late. Hopefully, I’ll be able to get Snape pretty quick.”

“Okay, that works for me. Thanks Harry.”

“You’re welcome Daphne, I’m glad I can help.” Harry said with a small smile.

When Friday came Harry implemented his plan. After dinner he quickly left the Great Hall, as soon as he was out of sight he swung his cloak over his head and pulled the paintball gun from his pack. Stalking down to the dungeon he waited near Snape's office for the greasy man to appear.

Unfortunately, Snape did not come alone. Three of his Slytherins were with him. Even worse they did not all enter the office together. Instead he had private meetings with each in turn. It took forever.

Finally the last of the students left. As soon as he was out of sight Harry drew his wand and cast a quick silencing charm to hide what was about to happen. Sliding the door open he saw that Snape was seated at his desk, apparently grading papers. He looked up as the door opened. “Well, come in.” He called. Before he could do anything else, Harry lifted the gun and fired off one of the sleep bombs. In a blink the greasy professor was lying across his desk unconscious.  
Prying his mouth open Harry poured a shrinking solution down the man's throat. With Snape safely tucked away in a pocket, snoozing away the time, Harry made his way down to the chamber for the evening study session.

Eventually all the uninvolved students had left for their dorms, and only those in the know about the questioning of Snape remained in the chamber. A few minutes later they were joined by Professors Flitwick and Lupin, who had brought with them Professor Mcgonagall and Madam Pomfrey.

Holding up a hand to forestall any outbursts Lupin responded to Harry’s surprise. “I apologize Harry for the unannounced visitors,” he motioned to Mcgonagall and Pomfrey, “but I felt they should be a part of this. I’ve already taken their oaths not to share anything about what they learn here tonight without our permission.”

The students stared at their professors for several long moments before Harry responded. “Alright Moony, I know we can trust you, so we’ll give them the benefit of the doubt. Welcome to the Chamber Professors.” He nodded to the newcomers. “Did Remus tell you what we were doing tonight?”

After sharing a look, Mcgonagall was apparently volunteered to answer. “He did not Mister Potter, perhaps you would be so kind as to enlighten us?”

“Absolutely, we are planning to find out for certain where the loyalties of Professor Snape lie. George, the chair please.”

A look of extreme confusion on her face Mcgonagall had to ask. “And exactly how are you going to do that Mister Potter?”

Seeing the look on the usually austere Professors face Fred started howling with laughter. Remus hit him with a silencing charm. “While I agree that look on your face Minerva is quite amusing, we really don’t need that kind of interruption right now.” He said before his fellow teachers could protest. With a huff Mcgonagall settled down to wait for answers.

“We’re going to question him under veritaserum.” Harry said retrieving the man from his pocket and applying the antidote for the shrinking solution.

Mcgonagall and Pomfrey nearly had to be restrained when they started forward. Fortunately with Flitwick and Lupin there they calmed down before they did anything reckless. Harry nodded and turned to place Snape on the chair George had brought. Harry smiled in amusement when he realized it was the same one they had used for Sirius’ questioning.

When Snape had been bound to the chair he was given the antidote to the sleeping draft and they waited for him to wake.

It took a minute for him to wake fully, but they knew he was aware when he started to struggle against his bonds.

“What, where am I? Who has.” He stopped when he looked up to see Harry standing in front of him. While most of the group was in sight from where he sat, he seemed not to notice them. “Potter. You will let me out of this chair this instant. You will be expelled for this, you insolent little whelp.” He seemed to want to say more, but he had lost his voice in his rant.

“Do calm down Professor. We are here to determine whether you are someone who can be trusted or not. To that effect, you’re going to answer some questions for us.” He held up the vial of veritaserum. “Just stick out your tongue Professor, this will be over in less than an hour.”

Growling the man seemed to gather himself. “You go to hell Potter, I’ll never roll over for you.” He screamed at the top of his voice.

Looking over his shoulder at the others, Harry asked. “Umm, anyone have an idea on how we get him to cooperate?”

“Allow me, Mister Potter.” Flitwick said jogging forward and taking the vial from Harry. He stepped forward and waved his wand over Snape's head. The man was suddenly silenced and his mouth fell open. Dripping the requisite three drops into the mans mouth he returned the vial to Harry and went back to his place by Madam Pomfrey.

“How did you do that Filius?” The Matron asked.

“A charm for giving potions to recalcitrant children. I learned it from Molly Weasley. I understand she used it on her brood until they learned to take their potions without complaint.”

Madam Pomfrey had to stifle a giggle at the thought of the overly stern potions professor being beaten by a charm for children.

When Snape had gone limp, indicating that the serum had taken effect, Filius removed the silencing charm and the questioning began.

To everyone’s surprise Mcgonagall spoke first. “May I?” She asked, looking around the group. At Harry’s nod she spoke to Snape. “Severus why are you so hard on my Gryffindors?”

The man answered in the same hollow empty tone that everyone had under veritaserum. “Gryffindors are bullies. I remember it well from my own time as a student. It is very difficult to rein them in, so I make sure they know that at least one of the teachers will not tolerate their behavior.”

Nodding as though that answered all her questions Minerva turned to the group and motioned for someone else to take over.

George leapt to ask a question that had been bugging him for ages. “Professor, what do you really think of our potions skills?” He indicated his brother as he spoke.

“You two are very good brewers, but you lack the seriousness needed to make a potions master. If you would quit trying to make people laugh at your foolishness and actually pay attention you could be great brewers.”

Hermione decided to get them on topic and asked what she thought was the most important question. “Professor, how do you feel about muggle-borns in your class?”

“They take up too much of my time. I hate having to teach the basics every year. Students should come to my class already knowing how to prepare ingredients and why it is important to respect the brewing space?”

Harry decided to rephrase the question. “How do you feel about muggle-borns in general?”

“They aren’t taught enough about our culture. They come into our world knowing very little, and then are mistreated, told they are worthless, and discriminated against. By the time they are ready to make a decision about what to do with their lives, they have very little love left for the magical world. Most simply leave, which is a great loss to us all. Instead of enriching our world with new views and information, the ones who stay are those who manage to integrate, and/or find a magical life partner. We should be more accepting of muggle-borns, but because of the prevalent prejudice among many purebloods, it is impossible, for the moment.”

The group shared several looks before Lupin asked a question. “In the last war against Voldemort, which side were you on?”

“Both, after my best friend abandoned me to rut with Potter, over a mistake I made, I joined the dark lord. I regretted it almost immediately, the things he wanted us to do were horrific. I watched for a way to escape, and I found it. The dark lord wanted a spy in Dumbledore’s camp. When a position at the school for a potions professor opened I volunteered to take the role. He gave me the job and I approached the headmaster. I explained to him what I had been ordered to do, and what I wanted for myself. He accepted and while I was packing up my few belongings he went to interview Sybil Trelawney for the divination post. Thanks to the thin walls I overheard their conversation, including part of a prophecy she gave about the defeat of the dark lord. I was excited about what it might mean, and asked Dumbledore about it. He said that it would most likely not matter, as the only way it could come to pass was if the dark lord heard of it. In the hope that it would lead to his defeat I rushed to tell the dark lord what I had heard. To my everlasting shame he not only believed the prophecy to be real, he determined that the child mentioned was Lilly’s. I went to Dumbledore and told him of the dark lords intent and my own failure to dissuade him. I became the new potions professor at Hogwarts a few days later and gave every bit of information I could about the death eaters to Dumbledore.”

No one spoke for several minutes. The shock of these words was too great. Eventually Luna spoke. “When the dark lord returns, what will you do?”

Several pairs of eyes turned to Luna as Snape answered. “I will take up my role as spy once more. In order to maintain my place I will have to give the dark lord information which will most likely lead to the deaths of some on our side, but it is the only way I will be able to insure that I gather enough information to insure our ultimate victory.”

“What if there was another way for you to help fight him?” Harry asked before anyone else could speak.

“I would gladly take a different role. Unfortunately I cannot. Between my position as potions master at Hogwarts, and the dark mark, I would be unable to hide from the dark lord. Because of this, and the lack of anyone else to serve as spy, my role is clear.”

“What is the dark mark?” Hermione asked, echoing Harry’s thoughts.

“It is a brand that all of the dark lords inner circle were marked with. Burned into the left forearm with some magic we never figured out. It cannot be removed, and through it the dark lord can summon any who bear it, or punish them. When he touches the mark of any death eater the marks of all burn. That is all I know of it.”

“If the mark could be removed, would you wish to be free of it?” Harry asked, having a theory on how it might have been made.

“I would cheer at being rid of it. But there is no way. Only the dark lord ever knew how the mark was made.”

Nodding, Daphne stepped forward and spoke. “Professor, would you join a different group that was fighting the dark lord? One that was different from Dumbledore’s.”

“If they could prove to me that their plan was better than Dumbledore’s, yes. The headmaster enjoys his games, but he is a terrible war leader. He got most of his Order of the Phoenix killed by refusing to move them into safe houses where they could watch each other's backs. He felt that the death eaters would be unwilling to attack someone in their own home, despite them having done so repeatedly. He also felt that no punishment should be given to those who were captured, thinking they would simply repent of their actions and switch sides. Utter foolishness, but the ministry was already mostly in the dark lords control, making Dumbledore the only option for those who were willing to fight.”

Turning back to the others Daphne smiled. “That’s enough for me. I’m heading up to bed now. I’ll see you all tomorrow. Tracey, are you staying for more?”

Tracey stepped up beside her friend. “I have one more question for him.” She turned to the bound professor. “Professor, will you protect the Slytherin students who want to fight against the dark lord, from the ones who want to join him?”

“To the best of my ability, yes. It is difficult at the best of times to regulate what students do in their dorms however. I cannot guarantee anyone’s safety, only to do what I can, when I can.”

“Okay, thank you professor.” Tracey took Daphne’s hand and the two bade goodnight to the others.

Goyle stepped up to take the place of the girls and turned to Snape. “Professor, is there anything you can do to help those of us whose parents serve the dark lord? ‘Specially those of us who don’t want to?”

“While in the castle, yes. But outside of the castle, there is very little I can do.”

Goyle nodded. “Thank you professor.” He turned to the rest of the gathered students and teachers. “Thank you all for doing this. I’m going to follow the girls. I need to think about some things.” Before he could leave though, Harry offered the boy his hand. Goyle took the offered hand and shook.

“Good night Greg. Sleep well.” Harry said before letting go of Goyle’s hand.

“Well, do we have any other questions?” Harry asked the group.

The twins shared a mischievous grin, but it was Lupin who responded. “I’m satisfied, though I would understand if others wished to continue.”

“I’ve heard enough, perhaps we could have some tea while we wait for the serum to wear off.” Flitwick added.

“We would like,” Fred said quietly.

“To ask a few more.” Added George.

Mcgonagall placed her head in her hand. “You go ahead and take tea. I’ll keep an eye on these hooligans, make sure they don’t ask anything they don’t need to know about.” She waved them towards the tables where students generally gathered to chat, or do their homework.

Around forty minutes later she called them back, and they saw that Snape was coming out of the serum’s influence.

“I take it they stayed within acceptable topics.” Pomfrey stated as they neared the three people who had remained with the potions professor. She offered each of them a cup of tea from a tray she had transfigured.

“Surprisingly yes.” Mcgonagall replied accepting the tea. “They got impertinent only once, aside from that they stuck to questions about potions. I wasn’t able to follow all of them, but they seemed valid for the subject.”

“Indeed they were, advanced even. I wonder Misters Weasley, how is it that you have done so poorly in my class, when you clearly understand the subject?”

“We don’t like the way you teach professor, or the way you let the Slytherins get away with anything.” They answered together, twin grins in place.

The scowl on the potions master's face looked like it would shatter stone, and Harry was glad when Mcgonagall stepped in. “Severus, you can argue with students about potions later. Right now there is a far more important issue on the table.”

“Indeed madam, as I am currently bound to a chair, which you have done nothing to change I might add, I am not in a position to know what that is. Nor for that matter, to do anything about it.” Came the somber reply from Snape.

“Well, let's fix that then.” Lupin said, and with a wave of his wand Snape was released from the chair.

Rising slowly the greasy haired man adjusted his robes and calmly accepted the cup of tea Madam Pomfrey offered him. “Thank you Madam for your care.” He nodded to the mistress of the hospital wing. After a long sip of tea he turned to his fellow Professors. “I wonder, dear colleagues, what our illustrious headmaster would say about four of his deputies being involved in such a clandestine endeavor.”

“As he is unaware of our current endeavors, I rather doubt he would have an opinion Severus.” Lupin said mildly. “However I can assure you that measures have been taken to insure that if anyone were to attempt to inform him, or anyone else, that person would experience a most unfortunate accident.”

“Would they?” Snape’s voice had gone desert dry.

“Around half the school, including several of the teachers, as you can see, as well as members of your own house, are involved.” Harry intoned as gently as he could. Snape’s head whipped around to stare at him.”As you clearly know, based on your answers to our questions, Moldy isn’t dead. I’m not sure what to call him, more than a ghost, but also less. It’s not something I’ve read about yet. But he’s looking for a way to get himself a new body. It’s only a matter of time before he succeeds. When he does, we’ll be ready. One of our Slytherin members requested that we discover for ourselves where your loyalties are, and invite you to join us, if you were on our side. So, will you join us Professor?”

“Join you?” Snape responded silkily. “And follow a child?” His face twisted as he spoke, his rage beginning to show. “You truly are as arrogant as your father Potter.” By the end he was spitting with the need to spew his vitriol.

Harry jerked back from the rage on display. But it was Flitwick who answered Snape’s question. “Not Harry, Severus.” When Snape turned to look at him, he continued. “Harry isn’t even a figurehead here, though some wanted him to be.”

“The leaders of this organization Severus, are Mr. and Mrs. Granger, miss Granger’s parents, who are also now Mister Potter’s guardians. While Harry and Hermione are their contacts here in the school, the two mostly pass off leadership roles to the older students.”

“Although Harry has gotten the hang of rousing speeches.” Fred added.

Several eyes turned to the redhead and Fred shrank back.

“And why should I think that this group will fair any better than the last when that day comes?” Snape asked icily.

Harry held up a hand. “That’s a fair question professor. And a great opportunity to test something.” Several raised eyebrows told him that he needed to get his idea out quickly. “John and I worked out something we can use against the death eaters when they start attacking people again. Now that it’s working I was planning to introduce it at our next full meeting. But this is a good opportunity to see if it will work against the real thing. If you’re willing Professor, we’ll have a duel.”

“You wish to duel against me Potter?” Snape seemed almost confused by this.

“Sort of yes. Not a traditional wizards duel, but more like a real fight. We’ll start on opposite sides of the Chamber, outside of each others sight. When Professor Flitwick gives the signal we start. I do have a request though, if I win, you make a vow not to reveal how I won until after Voldemort is gone forever.”

“With a change like that, it is also important to set rules on what spells can be used.” Flitwick squeaked.

Snape looked a question at Harry, who was busy thinking over the options. He shrugged and looked at Snape. “I don’t really care. Let’s say, anything non-lethal is okay.”

“Anything, non-lethal you say.” And his voice seemed to caress the air as though he was experiencing something sinful. “That leaves a great many options.”

Harry smiled wanly. “I want a real test, though minus the chance of death. So throw a cruciatus at me if you want. I don’t care.”

That got shocked gasps from everyone present. Several responses blended together in a cacophony of “Harry’s” and “Mister Potter’s” before the group settled enough for anyone to be heard properly.

It was Mcgonagall who managed to be heard first. “There will be none of that Mister Potter. While I understand you want to be challenged, there is no need for anything that severe.”

“How do you even know about that curse Mister Potter?” Madam Pomfrey asked.

Harry blinked at the woman. “Umm, well, it’s mentioned in A History of Magic, The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts, three of the defence textbooks from the last few years the older students recommended, and several of the older students have talked about it from their lessons in our tutoring sessions. Why, is it bad to know what it is?”

“No Mister Potter, it is quite acceptable to know what it is, and how you can defend yourself against it. It is not, however, acceptable to invite its use.” Surprisingly, the response came from Professor Snape, and had been delivered cooly, but without venom. “And I accept your terms. Don’t worry Poppy, I will not harm the boy.” He added when the Matron looked about to object.

Shortly thereafter Harry was in his paintball gear, crouched by the statues, awaiting the signal from Flitwick. The observers were sat to one side of the room, behind several dueling shields intended to prevent any harmful spells from reaching the audience. He had no idea where Snape was, other than that he was on the other side of the room.

The twins were trying to take bets on who would win, but no one was biting, so they settled down to enjoy the show.

Flitwick gave the signal, a single loud bang from his wand. Ten minutes later Harry was accepting Snapes vow to remain silent about his defeat.

It had taken a minute for Harry to run up the wall, and across the ceiling, to find Snape halfway across the chamber. Then hit him with five prank bombs. Snapes hands expanded like a cartoon, leaving him incapable of gripping anything. His feet were encased in concrete, so he couldn’t move. Horns sprouted from his head, heavy enough to drag him to the floor. His clothes shrank, becoming tight enough that he had trouble breathing. And his tongue twisted so that he could only speak gibberish.

It then took another minute for Snape to admit defeat, and for Madam Pomfrey to set him right. A third for Harry to rejoin the group. And five to listen to the lecture about how prank spells would not work so well every time, nor for every person, as most people would be unable to cast so quickly.

Then two more for Harry to demonstrate the use of the paintball gun, which had the twins cheering. And one final minute for Snape to grudgingly acknowledge that Harry had a working tactic that no wizard would be able to predict.

The group broke shortly after the excitement.

Harry intended to share his plan for using paintball guns loaded with prank and sleep bombs to defeat the death eaters when the time came. However the twins and Hermione talked him out of it.

“Until we have enough guns to arm everyone it’s silly to tell them about it.” Hermione argued.

“Yeah, and we also need a lot of the bombs to load them with.” The twins added.

Grudgingly, Harry had to agree. So instead he joined them in last minute study for exams.  
The regular exams went as expected, but it was the O.W.L.’s that really mattered. Harry had worked extremely hard to mash astronomy, potions theory, history, and two extra rune sets into his head.

Potions was first, Harry and Hermione would join the twins, sitting the theory in the morning, which consisted of six feet of parchment covered in various questions about cauldron materials, ingredient preparation methods, ingredient interactions, the effect of temperature changes, and brewing times. They had only two hours and Harry struggled to get every question answered before the signal that time was up.

In the afternoon came the practical part of the exam, in which they had to select a potion at random and brew it while the examiners watched. Harry was being observed by an ancient looking man who sniffed noisily when Harry introduced himself.

“Youngest person to attempt this exam in eighty years.” The man commented. “Well, go ahead.” He offered Harry a small box with several small bits of parchment in it.

Drawing one out he read, “sensory improvement draft” and smiled. He had been brewing this potion since before his first year. How did he get so lucky he wondered as he went to the brewing station the man indicated.

The station was already laid out with labelled ingredient containers, which Harry saw would cover a large variety of potions. He quickly selected the ones he would need and moved the others to the back of the table so he wouldn’t grab any of them by accident. Checking the cauldron he saw that it had not been cleaned properly from it’s last use. Scowling he grabbed the wire brush set nearby and set to scrubbing. It was important that any residue be gotten rid of, before new brewing commenced.

Once he was sure that everything was ready for a safe brewing cycle he measured out his ingredients, and set them in order of when they were to be added, and started the liquids to heating.

An hour later he was bottling the bright blue potion for the examiner, who was looking pleasantly surprised. “Leave the cauldron. It is part of the test, to see if you remember to check for cleanliness.” The man informed him. Which he thought made sense, it was fundamental to good brewing practice to keep one's equipment clean. It would be smart to make sure students thought to check, and bothered to clean when needed.

Next was astronomy. Again they sat the theory in the morning, which made no sense to Harry. There really was very little theory in astronomy, at least from the wizarding perspective. Muggles he knew were far more advanced in knowledge about the stars, but he hadn’t yet tried to convince anyone at Hogwarts of that.

The exam was shorter than potions had been, but was a much greater struggle for Harry, who really wasn’t all that interested in the subject anyway. The questions were about the known aspects of the nearby planets and their moons. Again they had an hour, and Harry was finishing his answer to the last question when the bell rang.

That night they had the practical, which was up on the astronomy tower. They were each given a star chart, which they had to fill in using the current positions of the stars and planets. The timer said an hour. But really it took ages, not hours, but days, weeks even, if Harry’s sore hands were any indication.

At long last they were allowed to leave the tower, and Harry headed for a hot shower, trying to get some feeling back into his numb fingers.

Runes was also held in two parts. However as the practical aspects of owl level runes were simply in actually drawing the runes, he only had the morning part to attend. The afternoon part was for the newt students who would be displaying the magical use of runes. The morning exam was all about the languages of the runes.

Eight feet of parchment this time, filled with rune set after rune set, waiting to be translated. With only an hour to demonstrate that he had a proper understanding of five different runic languages he leaned forward, setting quill to parchment and began writing as fast as he could.

When the bell rang he was going back over checking that he hadn’t missed anything, or made any serious mistakes.

History came last, again just the morning session. As there was no practical aspect of history. This one looked so much easier than runes. Only five feet of parchment, though still only an hour to complete the work.

When the bell rang an hour later Harry tried not to freak out that he hadn’t managed to answer all the questions on the parchment. Three more waited at the end of his roll, and he wasn’t entirely sure of some of his answers on earlier questions. He’d been hoping he would have time to go back and double check. But the examiner was summoning the rolls to the front before he could even glance at the offending words.

As the exhausted students made their way out of the Great Hall many were heard complaining about how it felt like their hands were going to fall off from overuse. Harry had to agree, his hand was tingling all over, and he was half tempted to visit the infirmary to see if Madam Pomfrey could make it stop.

Two days of free time, spent with his friends, lounging in the sun by the lake, and playing games, finally cleared the stress from Harry’s muscles. Almost before they knew it, the year was done, trunks packed, and they were trooping down to the Hogwarts Express for the return to London.  
Almost as expected, the station was swarming with dementors. The teachers who had accompanied the students let loose their patroni. However, there were so many dementors that the various patroni were unable to hold them back.

There was a terrible sinking sense of dread that flooded over the gathered students. Several of the first and second years collapsed as the floating horrors drew closer to the crowd. A few of the townsfolk added their own glowing animals to those of the teachers, but they were quickly overwhelmed.

As the crowd watched, more and more dementors swooped down from the sky to join their brethren. A few of the cloaked figures, those nearest to the students reached for their hoods.

Near Harry a voice he vaguely recognized cried “expecto patronum” and a warmth seemed to spread through his limbs. He hadn’t even noticed the cold that had been seeping into him. A moment later another voice yelled the incantation.

Soon dozens of voices were calling out the words, and Harry recalled the lessons. Months of practice in the Chamber. He raised his wand and sent Prongs to join the effort to drive the fear away.

A hundred dementors had been sent to Hogsmeade to hunt for an innocent man. They had been left there to cover up the ministry’s incompetence, and corruption. They had been left for almost a year, and with no prisoners to feed on, they had grown restless, and hungry. When the students of Hogwarts had gathered, moods high, it was like a feast. They swarmed, but two hundred of the hateful silver protectors was too much even for them. Almost a dozen of them were killed before they could escape.

To the humans watching, it was rather like lighting a candle in a dark room. Silver animals gathered in several lines in front of the students and charged. The black cloaked figures fled before them. To the astonishment of the onlookers however, several of the dementors fell to the onslaught of the glowing forms. It was commonly believed that nothing could kill a dementor, but today they saw that belief die.

When the students had left, several people were seen picking up bits of cloak, or shards of pale bone. Some as souvenirs, a few in curiosity. For a few though, it was a question of what could be done with them.

On the train, Harry Potter was tucking the bones and cloak he had grabbed, as the students rushed for the safety of the train, into his trunk.


	47. Chapter 47

“Harry!” John called across the chaos of the King’s Cross station.

“Hermione!” Jean echoed when the kids came into view.

Mrs. Weasley was enthusiastically greeting her own children nearby, and Xeno was being wrapped in a Luna hug on their other side.

“The others are waiting for us at the Burrow. We’ll be flooing there. There’s lots to talk about, so we should get moving.” Jean said as she ushered everyone towards the grates.

As promised, Remus and Sirius were already seated at the dining table when they arrived at the Weasley family home. Sirius had his head on the table though, while Remus was nursing a cup of hot tea. As the new arrivals entered the room, Remus looked up.

“I’ll have to get back to Hogwarts soon. Final exams to grade, and my quarters to pack up.”

“What aren’t you staying?” Ron asked.

“Good to see that some students didn’t hear the rumours. One of the Slytherins. I don’t know which, realized my furry little secret. I got a message this morning claiming that if I returned next year, efforts would be made to insure that I would be gone from the school by Halloween.” He smiled at the stunned faces looking back at him. “In the interest of avoiding problems, I chose to retire quietly.”

“Well, that just means you’ll have more time to work with us Mooney.” Harry said walking over to offer the man a hug.

Releasing Harry into a seat between himself and Sirius, Remus turned back to the rest of the family. “Welcome home everyone. I think Molly might have put together dinner for us. Assuming my nose is still working, and that’s not laundry I’ve been smelling for the last half hour.”

A slow smile spread across several faces. Ron and Ginny both turned to hug their mother.  
“Thanks mum.” They echoed each other.

“Yeah, you’re the best, mum.” The twins added.

It only took Molly a couple of minutes to get everyone seated and to serve up a sumptuous dinner. For the next few minutes the only sound in the Weasley’s dining room was the scraping of forks on plates and the occasional “pass the food please” comment.

Eventually though, Harry had a comfortable belly, and got up the nerve to ask after his godfather. “So, what’s up with Padfoot?” He asked looking around the table at the adults before piercing the man himself with a quizzical look. “I’d have thought that after a few months in the sun with a regular therapist you’d be a lot better. You still look half dead.”

Sirius let out a barking laugh. “I told you he’d notice.” He said. Harry was pleased to note that his voice was much improved. He no longer sounded like he was talking through broken glass, more like he was a little dehydrated. “I haven’t been at the clinic this whole time Harry. I went back for another week after christmas.” The dogman started to say more, but was overcome by a small choking sound and waved at Remus.

Remus picked up the thought with a sad smile. “When we came back, we went to look at grimmauld place. It was horrid. A few hours in there and Sirius had to return to the clinic. That happened again when he came back the second time. After that we gave up on the idea of getting the place cleaned up before you guys got back. Sirius can’t be there for long before he starts relapsing. We aren’t sure if it’s something in or maybe on the house, or if it’s just bad memories brought up by being there.” He reached over and gripped Sirius’ hand tightly, Harry saw that Sirius returned the grip, and the contact seemed to soothe Sirius.

John continued the story. “There’s a lot wrong with that place. It’s going to take some real work to get it cleaned up. Towards that end, after Sirius had to return to the clinic for the second time, we,” he indicated the other adults, “came up with a plan to at least get rid of the pests. We took a couple of bug bombs to a potions master that Remus knows and had him copy the design with magical pest remover. Then we went in and set them off.”

Smiling Jean jumped in. “You should have seen your mothers face, Fred, George, she was amazed at how well it worked.”

“It was not that funny.” Molly said indignantly. Jean stood behind her nodding and mouthing that it was.

Harry was about to ask what they would do about the house if it was so bad, but was interrupted by a voice he didn’t recognize. “Chicken?” Came a questioning voice from somewhere behind him. He started to turn, wondering who else was in the house when something hit his head. He felt claws digging into his scalp for a moment, several voices cried out in surprise and then the weight was gone from his head and Loki was landing on the table in front of him. The faux dragon eyed Harry’s plate and attacked a chicken leg. Harry thought he heard that voice again say “chicken” just before Loki began worrying the meat off the bone of the chicken leg.

Harry was the first to recover and he reached out and scratched the little dragon behind his ears. “Hey Loki, how’s the chicken?” He asked, still waiting for his familiar to start speaking.  
To his surprise the dragon stopped ripping off bits of chicken and looked up at him. Swallowing he spoke. “It is very good friend human. Thank you for providing. I will not steal your socks tonight.” Then he went back to his meal.

There were several gasps around the table. Mooney managed to find his voice first. “He’s talking Harry. When did that start?” He said with a slowly dawning smile.

“That was the first time he spoke to me.” Harry smiled up at his honorary uncle.

A pair of twin whoops signaled Fred and George’s imminent joining of the conversation. Sure enough when they finished pumping fists in the air Fred spoke. “Harry! This calls for a party.” He said enthusiastically, then he turned an innocent look on his mother. “Mum, can you make a cake?”

Molly shot a quick glare at her most rambunctious sons, then smiled warmly. “Oh, I suppose so dears. It will have to wait for tomorrow night, though.”

George rushed around the table to hug his mother. “Thanks mum, we can wait till tomorrow. It will give us time to plan.”

For a few minutes Harry was bombarded with questions about his familiar, who basked in the attention. Crookshanks, feeling left out jumped up to join Loki and stole some chicken for himself. Hermione had to take a piece from him and tear it up so he wouldn’t risk choking on any bones. He nearly took her hand off when she started pulling it away, until she explained what she was doing. That brought up more questions, as everyone wanted to know how she was suddenly able to speak cat.

Eventually Harry was able to turn the conversation back to the summer plans. “So what are we doing about grimmauld place? Do we need to leave it, or are we still going to clean it up?”

Xeno smiled over at him. “There is an old cleansing ritual that may help. However it is best done after you have completed the more mundane cleaning. Are you still thinking of selling the place?”

“Yes.” It was Sirius who answered the question. “That place is even worse than it was when I lived there. While I agree we can get the place cleaned up enough to make it livable, I don’t want anyone I care about living there. I don’t ever want to set foot in that place again. In fact, according to my therapist I really shouldn’t. Too many bad memories. On that, Harry, we need to go to Gringotts and get the paperwork filed to hire Bill for the island cleanup. I’ll be staying out there for now.” He fell silent again, picking at some vegetables on his plate.

Remus jumped in to continue the line of thought. “We’ll take care of the house. Harry I was thinking you might want to join Sirius and Bill on the island. Given your interest in curse-breaking even if you can’t help directly, you could learn some things. And more importantly, it would give you a chance to get to know this idiot.” He laid a hand on Sirius’ shoulder and gave it a little shake. Sirius sent him a wan smile and went back to picking at his plate.

“While I agree that would be a good idea, Harry also has agreed to join the junior dueling circuit. Plus we’ll need his help with a few things once the house is cleaned up. As the legal owner he’ll need to be involved with the sale, at least at first. And it’s a real trip getting to and from the island.”

Harry smiled and stood up. “I have a solution to that.” He said and pulled a ring out of his pocket. With a quick squeeze it became a large hoop which Harry leaned against the wall. He beckoned for everyone to follow him, and jumped through the hoop. There were a dozen gasps when he disappeared.

Sirius stood and walked over to the hoop, beckoning for the others to follow and he too disappeared.

It took a few minutes for everyone to decide to follow, but eventually they did. When they landed in the lobby of the island’s hotel they were shocked. They were even more shocked when Harry had explained how the portal worked, and that he had done almost all of the work for it himself.  
“You’re going to drive them insane when you take your N.E.W.T in runes Harry.” Bill said. “This is incredible. I never would have even considered something like this.”

“But is it safe?” Molly asked, looking worriedly around at everyone.

Sirius only response was to motion to the children, who were looking around the lobby which was much cleaner than the last time they had been here.

Arthur put an arm around his wife and spoke softly. “We all seem to be fine Molly dear. And I’m sure Harry was thorough in his testing before asking anyone else to use the, what do you call this Harry?”

“Travel Portals, or just portals. And he’s right Mrs. Weasley, I was pretty thorough about testing them before I let anyone else try.”

“Well, okay, but I’m still not very comfortable with it.” Molly subsided.

“That’s okay mum, we promise to be careful about using them.” Percy said, a bit pompously. “Or at least, I do.”

Harry turned back to the family. “So, getting back and forth will be easy enough. And Hermione and I had a thought on the money problem. We can send some of the stuff from grimmauld place to auction.”

Sirius’ head shot up from where he had been examining the floor mosaic. “That’s brilliant pup. You two are geniuses.” He said sweeping the pair into a hug. Then he rushed over and wrapped the elder Grangers in another hug. “You two have an amazing daughter.”

Jean was laughing. “Sirius, cut it out. You already knew that.”

“Well sure, but that’s no reason to ignore the opportunity to crow about them when it presents itself.”

Bill decided to keep them on track. “Okay, so what exactly is our order of operation? We need to get paperwork filed before I can help with the island, legally anyway. Is there anything else we need before that?”

“I need to visit Godric's Hollow.” Harry said. “Dad left me a message that said there’s something there that will help.”

“Another contingency in your vault?” Bill asked while everyone else gasped.

“Yeah, thanks to Mooney, I got the last one.” Harry replied.

“Thanks to me? What did I do?”

“The last contingency was when someone acknowledged me as a master of any craft or field of magic. When you called me a master prankster, it was enough. I’d show you what it revealed, but according to dad’s letter it falls under the category of family magic. I can show you the letter, it’s in my pack though, so you’ll have to wait a bit.”

“Alright, we should head back anyway. We’ll have an early start if we’re going to visit Godric’s Hollow along with gringotts tomorrow.” John said motioning to the portal.

Molly had to shout a bit to get all of her children to leave the island, but a few minutes later they were back at the Burrow. The letter was given to the adults and the children were ushered off to bed.

Godric’s Hollow was exactly as Harry remembered it from his last visit. They went to the graveyard first to visit the graves of James and Lilly Potter.

“They were such good people.” Molly said, one arm squeezing Harry around the shoulders. “They didn’t deserve what happened.”

Most of the family spread out to give Harry a chance to talk to his parents, only Molly, Sirius, and Remus stayed. Sirius moved forward and laid a hand on Lilly’s head stone. Remus simply stood, head bowed, nearby.

Harry, oblivious to the other people took a step forward and knelt between the graves. “Hello mum, hello dad. It’s been a while. I got your letters dad, that was pretty smart the way you hid them from Malfoy. I’m working on a way to get him back, but it’s taking a while. You were right about those journals being helpful though. I’ve already learned a lot, and I haven’t even finished half of them yet.”

As Harry continued to speak quietly to his parents Molly smiled gently down at him. Remus however was shooting a puzzled look at Sirius who seemed to be steeling himself for a difficult task.

“Harry.” The former convict said gently. When Harry looked up at him, he smiled gently. “Their not here Harry.” The stunned look on Harry’s face caused Sirius to hurry on before the boy could start yelling. “Their bodies are in a facility up north. Per their wishes I had them transferred there within a couple hours of, of what happened. It’s kind of a long story, but the short version is they are frozen.” He paused, apparently searching for what to say next.

Harry spoke first. “They chose to be cryonically frozen? I wasn’t sure if they knew about that.” The stunned looks on Remus and Molly’s faces told him that an explanation was needed. “I found out when I first came here that the Potters have always been interested in the possibility of living longer. So I did some research on the topic. Cryonics is the practice of freezing one’s body so that if a cure is ever found for what killed you, then you can be thawed out and revived. Or at least that’s how I understand it.”

Sirius added to his explanation. “Close enough pup. There’s a little more to it, but that certainly covers the basics. I don’t know who came up with the idea, just that it wasn’t a Potter. But I know the Potters have all had contracts for the procedure, practically since it was first introduced. Even you, your parents paid for yours the day you were born. When I got here, I fulfilled the oath I had sworn to them and got them to the people that run the facility their contract was set up with. Their supposed to be right next to James’ parents. I know Lilly tried to talk her parents into doing it as well, but I don’t know if she succeeded. These,” he pointed to the head stones, “were intended for those left grieving for their loss, and to prevent the wrong people from learning of their actual placement. I assume Dumbledore set them up after I was sent to Azkaban.” He shuddered a little at the mention of the prison and Harry moved to wrap his arms around his godfather.

They stood there, sharing in each others comfort for a long time. When Molly and Remus started to move away, they opened their arms and motioned for them to join in the comforting hug. A few minutes later they were joined by the rest of the family, and a large group of mourners held onto one another for long minutes, sharing in each others warmth.

Eventually though the group broke up, and it was a testament to the solemnity of the moment that even the twins did nothing to evoke lighter feelings. They did however quietly indicate the time and soon the group was moving towards Potter cottage.

The search of the cottage was fruitless until Jean Granger fell back on her muggle roots. “I did a study of architecture in Uni.” She explained as she started tapping on walls. It wasn’t until she got to the master bedroom though that she found anything.

Behind a wardrobe there was a hidden space behind a wall panel. Inside was a set of journals and a photo album. She handed these to Harry with a smile. “You should probably look these over in private. They may fall under family magic, if not, you can share later.”

With a nod Harry tucked them away in his pack.

“Alright, we need to get going then. It’s almost time for our meeting at Gringotts.” Bill said into the momentary silence.

“Mister Potter, we meet again. To what do I owe the honor this time?” Garnoc asked when they were seated in his office. For a change Garnoc had actually been in his office when Harry had arrived.

“Good afternoon Garnoc.” Harry replied in gobbledygook. “I would like to hire Bill Weasley to assist in a clean-up project with a new property. There is a curse on the land that needs to be removed, and new wards to be raised. I want Bill specifically because I am familiar with him, and therefore trust his work ethic.” He had been coached of course, once again by Bill.

The paperwork took ages, or maybe a couple of hours. When it was done Harry was shaking a cramp out his hand. But it turned out to be a fairly easy process over all.

“Very good Mister Potter, is there anything else Gringotts can help you with today?” Garnoc asked when everything was done.

“I would like to make an appointment to meet with you again at the end of the summer. Let’s say August 29th. We have found a few goblin made items at grimmauld place, and we expect to find a few more. I want to be sure we have time to identify them all so that they can be returned in one meeting rather than several meetings spread across the summer.”

“Very well.” The goblin opened a calendar and looked over the date. “Let’s say three o’clock in the afternoon, will that do for you?”

“Yes, thank you Garnoc.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, just wanted to say for those who are not already aware. Yes, Cryonics is a real thing. There are hundreds of thousands of people with contracts. And while there is currently no guarantee that those who have been frozen will ever be able to be thawed and returned to life, there is a hope that one day it will be possible. For those who have chosen that route, it is that hope that matters. All other current methods of handling a persons body after death result in no hope, no possibility of resuscitation.
> 
> I added the detail here because I wanted to showcase some of the differences between "muggle" and "magical" thinking. And to give myself an option for returning the Potters to life later if it fits in the story, or in the epilogue if it fits better there. Also to demonstrate that the Potter family has not restricted itself solely to the magical world for at least a couple of generations, in order to give Harry the chance to realize that while his life has not been what his parents would have wanted it to be. His knowledge of both worlds, is.


	48. Chapter 48

“Now we have Bill helping with the Island, we need to get the schedule for the summer worked out.” John commented over dinner. “Speaking of, Harry, are we doing scouts again this summer?”

Looking excited, Harry smiled. “Yeah, if we can. I wasn’t sure if we’d have time, with everything else we’re doing.”

John smiled warmly back. “It’s only a couple hours a week. And you got some ideas last year from the meetings. There’s a good chance you’ll get more. I figure that alone would make it worth the time.”

Much to everyone’s surprise, Harry launched himself across the room to wrap the older man in a hug. “Yes, we should do that.”

“Okay, that’s one thing settled for the schedule. What else is there?” Jean asked.

“We’ll need to get the Island done, before we can do a lot.” Bill spoke up. “The curse will likely take a week or two. And the clean-up and replanting will depend on how many of us get involved.”

Remus raised a hand for attention. “There’s also grimmauld place. I know none of us really like the place, but money is going to get really tight, really quick if we don’t get that place cleaned up and sold soon.”

Molly offered a solution. “Well, you and Sirius can get the Island ready right?” At Bills nod she continued. “Which leaves the rest of us waiting. We can get grimmauld place cleaned up while you work on that.”

Harry raised a hand, then pointed to Remus. “You said that the pests are gone right?” Remus nodded slowly. “Good, then I can make cleaning the house out a lot easier. Just a second.” He pulled his trunk from his pack and rifled through one of the compartments bringing out another trunk, this one decidedly muggle in design. “I’ve got a few of these. Note the label.” He pointed to a strip of white on each side of the trunk with a word written across it, laundry. “Since there's no concern about bringing doxies out to the island just toss everything into one of these chests. Then bring them out to the island. Then we just have to wash the walls, and floor, and maybe update the wiring. Then we can have one team working on sorting through everything to determine what gets sold, what gets donated, and what gets burned.” As several heads were nodding he decided to bring up his other thought as well. “I was also thinking we could get the Alliance to help. I already offered to hire Neville for the summer to help with the replanting. I don’t know if you managed to contact anyone with the qualifications we want for that job.”

“That’s good thinking Harry, you’re just a hurricane of ideas.” Arthur said. “Since we intend to use the island as a safe haven for the Alliance anyway, it would be good to get their help in the clean-up. Merlin knows I won’t be able to, not with work being so full recently. We don’t want anyone to get burned out though. So why don’t we plan one night a week to do something fun? It wouldn’t have to be the same night every week, but..” He trailed off.

The kids sounded off with a chorus of “paintball, skating, movies, opera, quidditch, museums” and a few other suggestions that got lost in the commotion.

It ended up taking most of an hour and a half to work out a schedule, which had to include Harry, Sirius, and surprisingly Ginny’s, therapy sessions. Along with Harry and Johns, scout time, which Ron, Fred, and George wanted to join. As well as the Dueling circuit. Plus the island and grimmauld place.

With everything worked out, Harry went to bed early. His first meeting with Flitwick for the dueling circuit would be taking place at eight in the morning.

“Confringo, diffindo, expelliarmus.” Spells flew fast and hard on the dueling stage as Harry and Filius entered the arena.

“A little more rambunctious than our usual training, but you’ll need to get used to this kind of environment Harry. Most of the tournament will take place in a location just like this.” Filius explained as they found an empty spot on the stands to sit and wait their turn.

Eventually the coordinators called for him. “Good luck.” Filius said quietly as Harry rose to take his place on the stage.

His opponent for the trials was an older boy he didn’t recognize. One of the coordinators stepped onto the stage and beckoned to them both. “Okay, just a quick explanation of the rules. Samuel I know you’ve done this before, but Harry here hasn’t, so just bear with me. This is a trial match, just to see what you can do. No stunners, or other debilitating spells, we want to see how well you dodge, and how fast your casting is. At the end of the trials we’ll post the entries for the team.” Then he turned to Harry. “Got it?” At Harry’s nod he turned to Harry’s opponent, apparently named Samuel. “Good?” When Samuel nodded he motioned to the starting positions. “Take your places.” He stepped off the stage and waited for the combatants to indicate their readiness.

Harry walked back to his starting position, running through a few different strategies he wanted to show today. Turning to face his opponent he raised his wand to a low guard stance, his preferred starting position. He saw that the older boy was starting in a high guard, back straight, head high, wand out directly in front of his face pointing at Harry. From Harry’s perspective he looked open and unguarded. Only his face covered. By comparison the low guard position while frowned upon by the old crowd, allowed his wand to cover more of himself. Knees slightly bent, Wand held at midpoint of the body point tilted up toward his opponent. It felt stronger to Harry.

“Begin.” The coordinator called, and Harry moved, so did Samuel. A green light sped towards him, he could tell the other boy had yelled his incantation, but his heart was pounding in his ears. He dove to the side shooting off a jelly legs, and an impediment jinx before he hit the floor. Rolling to his feet he threw up a shield to block the leg locker that Samuel sent flying towards him. A quick sidestep to avoid another green spell he sent three quick butterfly charms down range, this was a spell to produce a feeling like butterflies in the stomach, distracting but only just, they are a fast cast though which is why he chose that spell. Two more spells came at him, a white and a blue he didn’t recognize. He managed to avoid the white, but the blue caught him in the arm. A moment later he was shaking his left arm which was now tingling as though he had slept on it wrong.

Duck, dive, roll, shoot off spells. They kept it up for ten minutes before the coordinator finally called them off. Samuel had been slowing at the end clearly a bit winded. Harry managed to leave the stage looking almost as fresh as he had been when he stepped onto it. He noticed a few people glaring at him, while others watched him with looks of awe.

“Well done Harry, well done.” Filius said when Harry joined him on the bench. Clapping a hand across Harry’s shoulder he added. “They’ll have a hard time beating that showing.”

As the trials continued, a few people came over randomly to congratulate Harry on a good show for his first trial. Which Harry returned.

The trials weren’t over with a single duel though, despite what the coordinator had said. There were accuracy trials, where they set up targets and had the hopefuls line up and cast several spells to see how often they could hit the target. Harry proved to be the best out of the group, by one cast, he hit with every spell. Then power trials, where they had a scale that had to be hit with the strongest spell they could manage. Harry landed in the middle of the pack there. And finally the stamina trials, where they had everyone line up and cast until they couldn’t cast any more. When only three remained standing it was called and Harry was one of the three, along with a boy he vaguely recognized as a Gryffindor in the year ahead of him, and Susan Bones, a Hufflepuff in his year, also one of the members of the Alliance.

“Susan, hey Susan.” Harry called hurrying up to the girl when everyone was packing up to leave. “Hey, do you have a minute?” He asked motioning to the side to indicate that he wanted a private talk.

“Hey Harry.” Susan smiled as she led him away from the crowd. “How’s your summer going?”

“Pretty good so far, a bit full though. I’ve got stuff going on almost every day. How’s yours?”

“I’ve only got the dueling circuit so I’m pretty free. Auntie Amelia says she might take me along for some of the Wizengamot meetings later though.”

“That sounds cool.” Harry offered with a small smile. “I was hoping you might have some time in a couple weeks. We have a few projects we could really use some help with. How do you feel about spending a day or two on the beach?”

“The beach?” Susan asked excitedly. “That sounds great. What kind of projects do you have that are on a beach though?”

“Can’t explain here. Need to keep it hushed. But we’ll be working for about seven or eight hours at a stretch then we’ll have the rest of the day to relax. We’re thinking about ideas for something to say thanks to everyone who helps, but we don’t have anything yet. If you can think of anything let me know.”

“Will do, who all is going to be there?”

“We don’t know yet. You’re the first I’ve had the chance to talk to. Everyone’s welcome though, so if you get the chance to pass on the invite, please do.”

“I’ll see Hannah and a couple of the other Puff’s tonight, so I can tell them.”

“That’s great, thanks.” Harry smiled and hugged the auburn haired witch. Noticing Flitwick standing next to a brown haired wizard he didn’t recognize, both of whom were watching their conversation Harry pointed them out to Susuan. “I think we’re holding someone up.”

“My trainer, Auror Collins. What’s professor Flitwick doing here though?”

“He’s my trainer.”

Susan turned a wide eyed look at her messy haired friend. “You’re training with Flitwick. Sweet Merlin, he’s a former champion.”

“Yeah, he’s pretty great.” Harry smiled.

“Well, I’m glad I won’t have to duel you during the tournament.” She winked at him. “We should go, before they start throwing jinxes at us.”

Somehow the blank expanse of dark earth and stone looked even more dead than it had when they first came to the island. The worst part was how quiet it was. Harry was used to nature being noisy, wind rustling leaves, birds calling to each other, and the buzzing of insects, all joined with other random animal calls. Here the only constant sound was the soft susurration of the surf against the stones, which was nearly inaudible when not actually on the beach.

“So Harry, have you gotten any experience with finding curses on land yet?” Bill asked.

Sirius blinked over at the redhead. “I’d be surprised if he has any experience finding any kind of curse, Bill. He is only thirteen.”

“I started studying curse-breaking in first year Sirius.”

“First year.” The dog man coughed.

“Yeah, it’s kind of a long story, I’ll tell you later when we aren’t working.” He motioned to the landscape. “No Bill, plenty on objects, but I haven’t tried on land. Although, now I’m looking for it, I can feel a pervasive sense of dread, kind of superimposed on the area. Damned if I can figure out anything else about it though. You?”

“All I can tell, is that it’s down.” Bill said, pointing to the ground. “And that way.” He pointed towards the center of the island. “What about you Sirius? You trained as a curse-breaker right?”

“Yeah, I thought I might need it. I had to have something to offer to the war effort, and I figured if something happened to my brother, I’d have to take over the family holdings. And the Black family is a little curse mad. So I trained at gringotts, I’d only just finished the training though when.” He stopped, and a dark look came over his face.

“Right, that’s enough of that topic.” Harry piped up, knowing that look meant his godfather was reliving painful memories. He had seen it in the mirror a few times, and knew the best thing to do was to change the subject. “Bill, it seems you have the most experience with this. What do we do?”

Bill looked between his companions for a moment before he seemed to get it. “Right, okay, so the first thing we do is to check the whole island. We’ll walk a grid pattern and check as much of it as we can reach. The spell we’ll use is an old one. Harry pay close attention, Sirius if you’re familiar feel free to help explain it. If not, then join the refresher.”

Sirius let out a short laugh. “I think I’ll listen to the refresher, and add anything I can recall if I can.”

It took Harry a half hour before he was able to cast the spell to Bill’s satisfaction. After which the trio went over the island as Bill had described. They paused briefly to lunch on cold meats and bread, and randomly called to one another, mostly to assure each other that they were still there.  
Hours later they gathered around a small fire on the beach, enjoying a dinner of kebabs and marshmallows.

“Well, you were right about where the curse seems to be coming from. But there’s no way to get down to it.” Sirius growled into the night.

“Yeah, I was afraid of that.” Bill answered softly.

“You afraid?” Harry giggled. “The big bad curse-breaker. Whatever scares you?”

“We’re gonna have to check for underwater caves. That means a lot of diving. I hate diving.” Bill replied dryly.

“Have you done it before?” Sirius asked.

“Once, on my first job for Gringotts. We were exploring an island tomb. Lot smaller than this place, but similar. Half the tomb was flooded, so we had to do a lot of diving. Between grasping seaweed, and grindylows it was practically a deathtrap. I haven’t much cared for swimming in general since.”

“Grasping seaweed?” Harry asked, an incredulous look spreading over his face.

“Related to the whomping willow, I think. It would take a proper herbologist to say for sure though.” Bill smiled at the younger boy.

“I doubt we have any gillyweed growing around here either. Which means bubblehead charms, and probably warming charms too. It may be summer, but that doesn’t make it bathwater out here.” Sirius growled, looking out at the surf.

“Gillyweed?” Harry asked.

“Mediteranean water plant.” Sirius answered turning back to his godson. “Turns you into something like a merman when eaten. Temporarily, the Greeks used it to explore the mediteranean sea. Unfortunately it grows in warmer waters than we have here.” He shrugged.

“Yeah, it’ll have to be bubbleheads, and warming charms.” Bill agreed.

“You know.” Harry was stroking his chin while inspecting his latest kebab. “We looked into doing some scuba diving last summer. We passed on it, because it would be too much work. Too much for the whole family. But for the three of us, I don’t know if it would help or not, but surely it wouldn’t hurt to check out the muggle method?” He looked at the other two men, giving them the chance to consider his idea.

It was Sirius who eventually answered. “I don’t know what they have on it. But I’m willing to check it out. You’re right pup, it won’t hurt to look. What do you say Bill?”

The redhead looked back and forth between them and nodded to Harry. “Yeah, it can’t hurt to look, and given some of the stories I’ve heard, it might actually help. We’ll apparate over to the mainland in the morning and see what we can find.”

With that decided the three agreed it was time to hit the sack.

It took less than an hour in the morning. They breakfasted on cold cereal, toast, and sausages. Then they hit the mainland and invaded a small dive shop. The attendant explained everything well enough for the wizards, and they quickly agreed that the muggle diving suits were a good idea. They ignored the breather apparatus, and tanks in favor of bubblehead charms though, which immediately got Harry thinking about ways to anchor the charm to be more stable, and longer lasting. Diving masks, and flippers were also happily scooped up by all three.

They spent the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon, diving around the bay and the southern edge of the island. They hadn’t found any underwater caves, but Harry had goten hundreds of photos with the underwater camera he had picked up. Which he was using to piece together a map of the underwater terrain.

The following day saw the north and west edges of the island explored, and Harry’s map expanded. Only one underwater cave was discovered though. On the western side of the island, and it was fairly big. Unfortunately it only extended a quarter mile into the island, and the curse was barely even detectable from inside it.

“Well that just beats it.” Sirius said plopping down by the fire they had lit for the evening.

“Agreed, I’m not sure what to do next, other than just trying to dig down to it.” Bill replied, flopping down across from the older man.

“It’s near the spring right?” Harry asked, then continued without waiting for an answer. “And the spring has to come from somewhere, why don’t we try to dig down next to it? That will give us a line to follow, and it might even open up further down.”

“Not a bad idea Harry. It’ll be a lot of work though.” Bill answered.

Harry smiled. “I have an idea that might help.”

Both older men shared a look as Harry fell silent. And try as they might, he refused to tell them his idea before morning.

At the site of the spring there was a shallow pool. As the three approached it they wrinkled their noses at the slightly sour smell.

“Okay pup, we’re here. Are you going to tell us what you have in mind now?” Sirius asked.

With a mischievous grin Harry began to shrink. In a moment a black badger was sitting on the ground next to them. 

Jaws hanging open the two men watched as the messy furred animal waddled over to where a trickle of water flowed out through a small opening in the ground. The badger sniffed at the water and shook its head, then set claw to stone and began to rip the earth apart, pulling small stones and clumps of dirt out of its way.

“He’s an animagus.” Bill said, still a bit stunned.

“He’s a badger.” Sirius responded in a dull voice, looking like he’d just been slapped.

“And he’s digging through that like it’s tissue paper.” Bill said with awe in his voice.

Sirius blinked and seemed to come out of his stupor. “I’m not sure if that hole will be big enough for the two of us though. Maybe we should help.”

The redhead stared at the former convict for a long moment, and nodded. A moment later he was shrinking. A long, low slung, red furred body rose up from the ground looking at the dog man as if to ask, “what are you waiting for?” A moment later there was a large black dog sitting where Sirius had been a moment before.

With the three of them working, each form well suited to digging, by curious circumstance. The work went quickly. It still took hours to reach a chamber well below ground that resonated with the energy of the curse. The chamber held a deep pool that looked black in the light from their wands.

“This is definitely the source of the curse.” Bill said, his voice echoing around the chamber. “Now we just need to find it’s anchor.”

“Look around, but don’t go too far.” Sirius said. “It could be anything, but will most likely be a stone, covered in runes.”

“Like a ward stone?” Harry asked.

“Yeah, just like that.” Bill answered.

The group spread out and began to search.

Harry took the far end of the pool that still had a bit of beach. The walls were largely smooth, with a few small ridges he didn’t know what to think about. There were no runes carved on them as far as he could tell though. So he started checking the stones lying along the edge of the water.

As he was looking over a stone about the size of his hand something slithered out of the water. He caught the movement from the corner of his eye and froze. Turning slowly he saw the serpentine movement and relaxed. If there were snakes down here he could ask for their help. It was possible that what they were looking for was in the water.

“Hello.” He hissed in parseltongue. However the snake did not respond. Instead it moved closer to him. Moving his wand to get a better look, he saw that there was something not quite right about this snake.

Before he could identify what was wrong he was distracted. A surprised scream echoed around the chamber. Bill had been pulled off his feet and was being dragged towards the water. There was something wrapped around his leg, pulling him. Harry had barely had time to take in the scene when Sirius was yanked by one leg towards the water as well. With a horrified realization Harry knew what was happening. It hadn’t been a snake. He looked down to see the tentacle coil around his ankle and with a jerk he too was sliding across the rocky beach into the water.

“Deep breath!” He heard Sirius cry out as his head went under.

Under the water, the wand light turned everything a murky brown. There were more tentacles sliding out of the depths to wrap around the struggling humans. Harry couldn’t see Sirius who had been almost on the edge of his vision before they were pulled down. Bill was now just inside of how far he could see. And he wasn’t faring too well. Two more tentacles had wrapped around him and he seemed trapped. Harry wasn’t much better though. A second tentacle had come up and slipped around his torso. Somehow it had slipped under his wand arm though and the light at the end was now waving wildly around as he was pulled deeper.

In the back of his mind Harry blessed the time he had put into wordless casting. He sent a cutting curse at the limb holding him. A gash opened, and a sour tasting liquid spewed out. Unfortunately, his light also went out. But he was now being held by only one tentacle, and he was able to move more freely. Twisting to the side he saw the bobbing light that was Bill and sent another cutting curse that way.

Then a scream was wrenched from his throat. A thing from out of his darkest nightmares was rising out of a hole in the floor of the pool. It blossomed outward as it rose, three, six, ten feet across and growing. It was bulbous and pulsating, with enormous reddened eyes, and eight long arms stretching out from its underside. A great beak set between the arms, and eyes, was opening and closing, an echoing sort of clacking sound accompanying the movement. The only good thing about it was that it glowed an eerie green and blue that at least allowed him to see.

Bill was tearing free of the arms himself and seemed to be waving at his head. With a start, Harry realized he had cast a bubblehead charm on himself. Suddenly, Harry realized that he couldn’t breathe. He had been underwater for, he didn’t know how long, and he was running out of air.

In a near panic he slapped his own head with his wand concentrating on the bubblehead charm, and a moment later his nose and mouth filled with delicious air. Which allowed him to scream properly when another arm wrapped around his free leg. With a lurch he was once more being dragged towards the maw of the giant octopus.

Bending almost in half so he could be sure of his aim, Harry levelled his wand at the tentacle attached to his right leg. “Diffindo!” He yelled, knowing the curse would be a bit stronger with a spoken incantation. Sure enough the arm fell away, spurting a gray liquid from the cut.

To the side he could see Bill doing the same, he still couldn’t see Sirius and hoped he was following their example.

He bent to remove the second arm from his leg but another reached him first, wrapping around his torso again. This time it got his wand arm, but he managed to twist his elbow so that at least his hand was free. He twisted his wrist, unable to see what he was doing, he hoped the wand was pointing in the correct direction and bellowed. “Fulgis!” Pushing as much magic as he could through the wand.

While the tentacles did let go of him, in fact he could see that they also let go of Bill. This turned out to be an incredibly bad idea. The jolt of electricity that shot from his wand spread through the water. It was like that time Dudley had forced him to put a fork in an electrical outlet when he was five. Except more, much, much, more. The near lightning bolt arced over him, lighting up every single one of his nerve endings. The pain was almost unendurable. No wonder the creature had let go, it must be suffering as badly as Harry. In the last moments, as the pain left, he saw lights erupt, and blast into the thing at the bottom of the pool. Then two dark figures moving toward him. He tried to raise his wand again, but his eyes were so very heavy.

“Harry, Harry!” The voice was coming from just above him. He struggled up from the sleepy darkness and opened his eyes. They were still in the cavern, back out of the water. Bill and Sirius were kneeling over him. He seemed to have been stretched out on the rocks.

“Harry, Harry say something.” Sirius yelled.

“Ow.” Harry managed reaching for his ear. The yelling was loud, and the echoes really didn’t help. But then a new problem erupted, as Sirius scooped him up into a rib cracking hug.

“You scared me half to death kid. I’m not sure what you did, but it got us loose. But then you just passed out. It’s lucky your bubblehead held, or you could have drowned.”

“I’m okay Sirius.Let me up, we still need to find the curse anchor.” 

Bill answered him. “Actually Harry, we just got it.” He held up one of the severed tentacles. This close and with wand light directly on it, he could see faint marks covering the surface of the arm. Runes, carved along the arm. “Someone, turned a giant octopus into a curse anchor and left it here. Not sure how, or why. But it’s dead now. We’ll need to haul it out of here, and then take down the curse, and I think, replace it. But the hard part’s done.”

Harry and Sirius looked at each other, and for a moment Bill was worried that they may have been more seriously injured than he thought. Then they turned and hauled him into the hug. A second later they were all laughing, as the fear finally began to leave them. Their nerves jangling with the release of tension.

It took a few minutes for Harry to convince them that he was okay to continue, and an hour for the three of them together to completely remove the curse and package up the remains of the octopus for removal. They agreed to perform the final cleansing another day, and made their way back out of the cave.


	49. Chapter 49

“What’cha got there pup?” It was the day after they had cleansed the underground pool. They spent the night in Hogwarts hospital wing, where Bill had dragged the other two when they got clear.

Madam Pomfrey had insisted they spend the night, but by minor miracle none of them had anything more serious than the minor cut on Harry’s scalp. Which he’d gotten when Bill and Sirius hauled him out of the water.

Back at the island Harry was seated at one of the hotel’s dining tables with several pages laid out in front of him. He looked up at Sirius question. “Mostly a map of the island I’m working on. But this,” he pulled out a particular sheet with extra markings on it, “is what I’m thinking of when we finish this summer.”

That got Bill’s attention, who had been walking by. “Oh, can I see?” He asked as he walked over.

“Sure.” Harry replied turning the pages so the older men could both get a good look.

“What is this?” Bill asked pointing to a set of lines and symbols surrounding the island.

“Beginning concept for a ward trap.” Harry replied. “See, the idea is, we sink the ward stones around the island. About a half mile from the shore. That will place them just at the edge of the rock line on the north and south, just this side of the ridge on the west, and a little bit outside the bay on the east. Then we connect the stones with these ward tubes. Thin, copper tubes inscribed with the anchoring runes.” He held up his thumb and finger to demonstrate how thin he meant. “That way if they want to physically destroy the wards, they’ll have to dive and find all of them. Which won’t be easy, especially if we cover them once their sunk.” He smiled up at his companions, waiting to see what they would say.

Sirius looked dumbfounded, but Bill spoke up. “That's a really good idea Harry. I’ve seen setups like this before. It’s an old idea, but it works well.” He pointed to some symbols next to the first. “What are these?”

“Those are, umm. Well, you know how, if you want to take down a ward, the easiest way is to use knowledge of the language the ward is anchored with?” Bill nodded slowly, as did Sirius, and Harry grinned broadly. “Well, this is a language there’s no way death eaters will know. Two actually.” He pointed to the first set of symbols, a flowing sort of language, this is elven, from the Lord of the Rings, a muggle book series. J.R.R. Tolkien the writer, actually invented a whole new language for his books. It’s taught in some muggle schools as an elective. I picked up a few books on it and taught myself. In the mythology of the books, the elves are very connected with nature, so I was thinking we would use that to anchor our weather wards, to protect the island from storms and the like.” He pointed to the second set, this one blocky, and sharp. “This was invented for a muggle sci fi show called star trek, it’s the Klingon language. It’s also taught in a few schools, though only in America. I had to special order those books. The Klingons are a warrior race, kind of goblin like, so I was thinking we could use that to anchor the more offensive wards, and traps.”

Sirius mouth was now hanging so low that birds would be nesting in it soon. Bill on the other hand was trying to speak, but no sound was coming from him.

“I knew it was a good idea guys, but I didn’t think it would be that good.”

Bill managed to speak at last. “Harry, that’s master’s level warding. To find a language no other wizard knows. Most just figure out a way to use an existing language in a new way. But to actually discover a whole new language. The only way they could get through the wards is brute force. They’ll have to overpower them, and take the consequences. And that’s if they even find us.”

Sirius’ reaction was much simpler. He lifted Harry into a bear hug and crowed. “My godson is a genius. A certified genius.” He set Harry down and turned to Bill. “Do you know what this means?”

Bill was laughing now. “Yes, Sirius, I know what this means.” The two danced around for several minutes, mostly jumping up and down. Before Bill spoke again. “Okay, okay. We need to get back to the Burrow. Everyone will want to know that we got the curse gone. Which means we can start working on the next phase. And we’ll need some help with getting and transfiguring everything for the wards. Which begs the question. Who do we want to see the ward stones? Even if they don’t know the language, anyone who sees it can still identify it if they look in the right place.”

“Yeah,” Sirius shook his head briefly, “yeah, we should keep that in the family for now. At least until after the war.” That thought calmed him immensely, though he was still smiling.

“Well, if we’re going to the Burrow, then we can wait a few minutes for breakfast. Mum, will want to feed us either way.” Bill said and pointed to the portal that would take them back to the Weasley home. “And Harry has his first dueling round today.”

“Oh, crap.” Harry burst into motion packing his papers back into a folder. “I completely forgot.”

True to form, Molly fed them all well. But Harry had to leave before the conversation had moved to the island. He had a duel to get to.

The tournament arrangements were fairly simple. Each country taking part in the tournament chose eight contestants between the ages of thirteen and seventeen. Each team member would duel their opposite number. The winner would be determined by a combination of points and winners. If one team got more wins than the other, for example five to three, then that team would win. If the results were a tie, four to four, then the winner would be determined by points scored during each match.

A point could be scored in one of two ways. Either by landing a spell on your opponent or by blocking one of your opponents spells. To win a match you either had to render your opponent unconscious, or get them to yield. In the event of a tie, a yield granted the winner two points, and so was often sought after.

Harry had been accepted to the English national team, whose first opponents would be Wailes, Ireland, Scotland, France, Germany, Bulgaria, and Spain. They would be facing Wailes today.  
With a smile Harry greeted his teammates.”Samuel Puckel, the boy he had faced in his own trial duel, was sixteen and a Gryffindor. Holly Parks, also sixteen, but in Hufflepuff. Charcal Charmaigne a thirteen year old homeschooled boy. Susan Bones, one of Harry’s Hufflepuff yearmates. Charlotte Swan, another home schooled student, she was also thirteen. Kevin Tolwit, Slytherin in his sixth year, refused to give his actual age. Johnathan Switch, fifteen year old Gryffindor. And of course, Harry himself.

Harry tried to learn the names of the Welsh team they were dueling today. Unfortunately he was only able to pronounce one of them. By some quirk of fate the Welsh team this year consisted primarily of people with extremely old style names. The one he was able to pronounce was Corglan Ryathan, and wasn’t even his own opponent, he was Susan’s.

Being distracted thinking about the ward system for the island, Harry took his seat and tried to look like he was paying attention, while really he was off in his own thoughts. He did manage to pay attention to Susan’s match, though that was mostly because she had sat next to him and jostled him when she rose from the bench.

Susan’s match took longer than Harry expected. He had dueled with her several times in the Alliance Chamber and knew she was good. Either her opponent was excellent, or they were both playing for points. She opened with a stinging jinx, which was blocked. Corglan sent a leg locker, which Susan blocked. Back and forth they went, spells glittering across the stage, bouncing off shields, and rarely, making contact. Susan had to dispel impediment jinxes, twice. Along with a few color change charms, which he asked Filius about. 

Filius quietly explained that the skin and hair color changes were often used just to earn points. As they do nothing that actually affects the match, their a popular choice.

After ten minutes of back and forth with weaker spells, meant to gain points rather than win, the duel finally heated up, and the contestants were trying to win.

Susan started the winning efforts with a stunner. This was followed by a rapid exchange of bright spells meant to incapacitate. Stunners, body binds, ropes, nothing deadly, of course, this being an officially sanctioned duel, if someone were to cast a deadly spell they would immediately be barred from ever competing again. But what was flying could still do a lot of damage if used improperly.

An exchange of simultaneous spells ended with Susan hanging upside down, lifted by her ankle. Corglan smiled cruelly and stalked toward her. “Well, well, do you yield?” He asked as he waved his wand in front of her.

He had chosen the wrong tactic, Susan waited until he was only a few steps away and unleashed a bright red stunning hex, directly into his face. He stood for a moment, then like a building toppled by explosives, he crumpled to the ground.

Then it was Harry’s turn. He congratulated Susan when she got back to the bench and moved to the stage for his duel. His opponent stepped up to the opposite side of the stage. Being unable to pronounce the boy’s name, Harry looked the boy over. He was almost as tall as Harry, brown hair and eyes, and rather plain features. But his expression was anything but plain. He had a piercing gaze which he pinned Harry with, and assumed a stance that reminded Harry of Hedwig preparing to dive on a mouse. He decided to call the boy Hawk in his head, just to have something to call him.

Harry settled into his own stance, slightly bent and hunched, wand held out in front of his torso, angled slightly upward towards his opponent. As he settled into position he brought up his occlumency and sought enough eye contact to get his legilimency going.

He was surprised when he instantly reached into his opponents mind. The hawk had no occlumency shield at all. He was running through a list of spells he intended to start with. And considering the tactics used by Harry’s teammates, he expected to only have to block a bunch of simple spells to start.

A slow smile spread over Harry’s face. This was going to be easy.

Four minutes later Harry held up his wand in the universal sign of victory. Between wordless casting and being able to see what the hawk was doing before he did it, Harry had hit his opponent fourteen times, mostly with a range of prank spells he and the twins had found or created. When the duel was over the hawk looked more like a platypus. His hands had been expanded, along with his feet, a tail had sprouted from his back side. His eyes bulged, and his tongue lengthened. He had been unable to speak and Harry told him to tap the floor three times if he wanted to yield. The hawk had done so, after which Harry reversed the pranks and offered him a hand up.

The audience cheered as Harry pulled his opponent to his feet and shook hands, offering a well meant “good match.”

After that Harry was a little more able to pay attention to the tournament, and was pleased that his teammates also did well. The first match of the tournament was a win for the English team, six wins to two.


	50. Chapter 50

“So what is this place?” Susan Bones asked as she and her best friend Hannah Abbot were led into the house at grimmauld place.

“It was my godfather’s.” Harry answered leading them into the sitting room. “He left it to me when he died.”

“It’s kind of empty.” Hannah said as she looked around the bare room.

“Yeah, it took most of a week to clear out all the junk. That stuff is being sorted elsewhere. Per Sirius’ request we’re selling the place, so we need to get it ready.”

“So we’re house cleaning? You said we’d be on a beach.” Susan looked at him sceptically.

Harry gave the girls a look they couldn’t identify and smirked. Raising one hand in front of him he crooked a finger. “This way.” A minute later, the girls were staring in awe at the ocean lapping against the shore of the island. “This is where we’ll spend the evening. The former contents of the house are being sorted in the hotel.” He paused to point out the building they had just exited. “There’s still a couple others who should be coming to help with the house.”

Back at grimmauld place they did indeed find several more of the Alliance waiting at the door.  
“Hey Harry.” They called as thirty people streamed into the house. It took longer than Harry would have liked to explain what they were doing. Once everyone got moving though, the house was cleaned and ready for sale in just under five hours. It really speeds things up when you have thirty three people doing the work, and even more when they can all use magic.

The party that the alliance held on the island beach that night was exuberant.

Over the following three weeks a kaleidoscope of Alliance members, including many adults Harry had not previously met, came and went from the island, assisting in the clean-up and replanting. The Hogwarts students were amazed at the number of adult muggle-born who had agreed to join the Alliance. Clearly the parents of the various members had been hard at work convincing others to join.

Originally they had planned on having a suite, or at least a room, for every family that joined. Unfortunately over three hundred families in the alliance, and only one hundred twelve rooms in the hotel, and twenty cabins, they didn’t have enough. So a team was set to building extra cabins, and another was set to expanding what they had.

Each room in the hotel was magically expanded into a suite, except for the top twelve on the uppermost floors, which were already suites. These were still expanded, just not quite as much. It was agreed, though, that as the original organizers, the Weasleys, Grangers, and Lovegoods, each got one of the upper rooms. As did Sirius, as he had no other home. It had been an interesting discussion explaining to everyone that Sirius was innocent. It helped when he offered to open his home to anyone who needed it. Although the teachers of Hogwarts who occasionally visited were the only ones to take him up on the offer.

“Hey Susan?” Harry called to the auburn haired witch on her last evening with them on the island. “I keep meaning to ask, is there any chance your aunt might join us?”

“I don’t know, Harry. I want to ask her, but she’s the head of magical law enforcement. And while nothing we’ve done so far is illegal.” She trailed off.

“Some of what we’re planning, really is.” Harry finished for her. The two stood there, each in their own thoughts until they were interrupted by a bouncy blonde girl.

“Hey Harry, this island really is amazing. Thanks for inviting us all out here.” Hannah Abbot smiled profusely as she bounced up to them.

“Thanks Hannah.” Harry smiled back at the bubbly girl. “A lot of the thanks goes to you all though. We couldn’t have gotten nearly as much done without your help.”

“And you’re planning to open it up to everyone if,” Susan paused and seemed to steel herself, “Voldemort comes back.”

Hannah gasped. “You said his name.” She said, looking wide-eyed at Susan.

“Well, we are planning to fight him.” Susan replied to her friend.

“Being afraid of his name is silly.” Harry said. “Though I suppose it’s hard to break the habit. Sirius calls him Moldy Farts now, after he heard Fred and George call him that once.” The two girls stared at him in confusion and amazement. “According to some of the reports from his first rise, he may have put a taboo on his name. Which allows him to know when anyone says it, and breaks several protections, even some of the strongest wards. So we aren’t encouraging anyone to get into the habit of saying his name. Just trying to break the fear of it. When he does come back, he’ll likely do the taboo thing again, so we need to make sure we don’t get into the habit of saying his name.”

The girls stared at him, then shared a look and blinked. Susan turned to Harry. “Okay, so I shouldn’t say his name then?” Harry nodded, smiling. “Got it.”

Harry’s short speech had turned the atmosphere awkward, but they were saved by the arrival of Ron Wesley and Neville Longbottom. Ron, being the more talkative of the pair, began speaking almost as soon as they were within hearing range. “Hey guys, Fred and George are planning a starlight trip on the water. They got the boats repaired and want to test them out. You wanna come?”

Hannah looked at him sceptically. “Fred and George? Are you sure it’s safe?”

Susan, smiling at Neville had her own thoughts. “Yeah, they aren’t planning to take us halfway out to the cove entrance and then tip the boats over, right?”

Neville grinned, he had really come out of his shell this summer. Between the extra practice last year in the Chamber, and his new wand, he’d actually managed to impress most of his year mates in classes. And the fact that he was half of the team that led the efforts to make the island green with grass and trees, not to mention the greenhouses, which were teaming with magical plants, waiting to be planted in the biospheres. “Their taking Angelina Johnson, and Alicia Spinnet, they won’t do anything too bad with their crushes along for the ride. Might change our hair, or clothes, but nothing like tipping the boats.”

“Oh, well, I guess that wouldn’t be too bad.” Hannah said offering her hand to Ron. It was odd Harry thought to himself that the two of them had seemed to hit it off so well. They didn’t really seem to fit at first. Hannah was fairly studious, and had a strong desire to follow Susan’s aunt into the ministry, though not law enforcement, she was interested in the creatures department. While Ron seemed to have no ambition beyond playing quidditch. Yet somehow they worked well together. Hannah kept Ron on track with whatever they were doing, and when they were done, Ron pulled Hannah into whatever fun pastime he thought of. The two walked off hand in hand, followed by Neville and Susan.

Neville and Susan made more sense to Harry. Neville had shared that he would eventually be taking a seat on the Wizengamot. He wanted to run a greenhouse on the side, producing potions ingredients for an apothecary. While Susan was hoping to become a healer. Their careers would mesh perfectly, the only significant difference between them was personality. Where Neville was shy, even with his boost in confidence, Susan was very outgoing. Although Harry could see how that too, would help them. Susan could take care of running the parties Neville would need to maintain his position and make connections, while Neville would be happy keeping focused on his closest friends and allies.

With a small smile, Harry made his way down to the vault, where the chests containing the stuff from grimmauld place, as well as the Lestrange and Malfoy vaults were slowly being sorted. Hermione had gotten a brainwave on sorting out what was what. They had Kreacher, the Black family house elf going through everything and providing an explanation of what each item was and where it came from.

Now they had five trunks set against one wall, labelled Muggle, Magical, Library, Goblin, and Hotel. Another wall held several more trunks with other labels, for things they wanted to keep. The process was simple enough, an item would be pulled from one of the trunks brought in from the Black house, or the vaults. It would be examined and then placed into the appropriate trunk for where it was expected to end up. Goblin made items, would obviously go to the Goblin trunk. The Hotel trunk held things intended to decorate the building, as well as some furniture. Books were automatically transferred to the Library trunk, when they got the library ready they would be used to fill the shelves. The last two would go to the auction house which had both a muggle and magical side.

“Hey pup.” Sirius called, entering the spacious room. As the only curse-breakers that Harry knew well, Harry, Sirius, and Bill were currently the only people allowed in this room.

“Hey Padfoot, you ready for this?” Harry replied.

“You bet, Bill should be here in a bit. I wanted to ask you about something before he joins us though.” The dogman sat down next to his godson, giving the younger a questioning look.

“Sure, go ahead.” Harry’s offhand response was overshadowed by his tense posture, and the fact that he was starting to sweat, despite the cool air in the vault.

“Relax pup, I just want to know where the rest of this stuff came from. I know it didn’t all come from the Black family holdings.”

Harry swallowed heavily. “Well, umm, in a way it did.”

“Pup, I don’t care if it’s stolen. Mostly I’m just curious how you got, and what kind of backlash we might need to prepare for.”

After a quick internal debate, Harry slowly lifted his hand to point at each of the stacks of trunks in turn. “Lestrange, Malfoy. Vaults.” He said carefully, watching his godfather closely.

Sirius let out a slow whistle. “Damn pup. You actually managed to break into Gringotts, and get away with a vault’s content. Twice.” He whispered in an awed voice. “How did you get the provenances for everything though?” He added, this time sounding confused.

Harry smiled. “Kreacher.” At Sirius confused look he elaborated. “Kreacher is a Black family elf. Which means, he is connected to anyone with Black blood within two generations. Even if their name is different. So Bellatrix and Narcissa. Because of that connection he can get all the information we need.”

Sirius stared at the green eyed little devil in front of him, wondering what he had done with the sweet innocent little baby Sirius had held years ago. Then he fell off his chair.

When Harry offered to help the older man up, Sirius waved his hand away. Then Harry finally noticed that his godfather was laughing silently. He was in fact, laughing so much that he was having trouble breathing.

For almost two minutes, the former convict rolled on the floor, trying to breathe, while laughing hysterically. He finally managed to get control of himself when Bill showed up and asked. “What's wrong with Sirius?”

“He found something funny. I’m still trying to figure out what.” Harry responded dryly. “I didn’t tell him any jokes, or at least not anything I knew was a joke.”

Sirius sat up slowly. “Actually, it was something I heard a while ago. I just got it.” As Bill turned to look at the trunks, Sirius winked at Harry.

“Well, if you’re feeling better?” Bill asked with a small chuckle. “We should probably get to work. This is going to take a while. Especially with only the three of us doing the work. I’d ask why you were so adamant about that, but I can feel the curse energy from some of those trunks. Anyone else, might get themselves killed before they even knew what they were getting into. And I don’t know if we have anyone else with any curse-breaking experience.”

If it weren’t for the cursed items the sorting would likely have only taken a day, two at most. But having to stop to remove a curse, from a third of the objects, it ended up taking a little over a week. On the plus side, they estimated that, the three of them were now the most experienced curse-breakers in the UK, possibly the world. After all, most curse-breakers considered themselves lucky if they had to deal with a hundred cursed objects in the whole of their career. In the combined Black, Lestrange, and Malfoy loot, there were a total of two hundred and thirty seven cursed objects. In one week they dealt with more cursed objects than most curse-breakers saw in a lifetime. And Harry was seriously reconsidering his idea of becoming a curse-breaker, maybe he would look more at enchanting.

With everything sorted, and all curses removed, however, it was time for a meeting with the goblins. And for those items slated to be sold to be sent to the auction house.


	51. Chapter 51

“Good morning young Potter.” The surly looking goblin who had replaced Garnoc as a vault manager spoke crisply.

“Good morning vault manager Porlok.” Harry replied. “I have a challenge for the goblin nation, something which I believe will test everyone to their extreme best. As this is such an immense challenge however, I request to speak with the highest available manager.”

Porlok narrowed his eyes and glared at Harry. “What’s in the box?” He asked, pointing to the trunk Harry had brought with him.

Harry allowed a grim smile to spread across his face. Opening the trunk he pulled out a small knife. The blade had a silvery sheen to it, and the hilt was studded with gemstones. Harry held it up for Porlok to see. “Goblin made objects, two hundred fifty three of them.” Dropping the small knife back into the trunk he stood and turned his wolfish grin on the goblin.

“Wait here.” Porlok snapped and rushed from the office.

It took eight minutes for Porlok to return with two guards and king Ragnok. Who once again looked around at each person in the room and nodded slowly to Harry.

Harry bowed and greeted the king in gobbledygook. “King Ragnok, an honor it is to meet with you again.”

The king allowed his mouth to stretch into a feral grin. “Young Potter, you claimed to have a challenge for the entire nation. That got my attention. Along with more of my people’s treasures.” He gestured to the trunk. “What can we do for you today?” Then he gestured to the desk and chairs.

Joining the king at the desk, Harry allowed his own feral grin to grow. “Your Greatness, I have here two hundred fifty three objects, made by your people, and stolen by wizards.” With a wave he flipped open the trunk and caused several items to float out of it, to the desk. “Please, inspect them to assure yourselves that they are as claimed.”

“I’m sure we can trust you, young Potter. Or are you concerned about the value?”

“Not the value, I merely wish for you to be certain of what you are receiving. I am not asking for any gold for these items, rather I request two services.”

“Services, hmm, it has been a rather long time since any service was requested of us, beyond the use of our vaults. What service do you request young Potter?”

“First, I request that no one ever reveals that I was in possession of these items, in any way. I acquired them from wizards who consider themselves my enemies, and who did work hard to cause me injury. I would prefer they not know that it was I who relieved them of their ill gotten goods, at least not until I’m ready for them to know.”

Porlok, who had been examining the items on the desk suddenly exclaimed. “This was in the Malfoy vault. You are the thief who robbed Gringotts!” He pointed a long finger at Harry.

“Not at all.” Harry proclaimed with a put upon look. “I robbed wizards, where the Malfoys chose to hide what they had stolen from my family was immaterial. And if you look closely, the item your are exclaiming over was originally purchased by my own ancestor, Anges Potter. Here, you can see the Potter family crest worked into the metal.” Indeed when they looked where Harry pointed, the Potter crest had been cleverly worked into the small shield.

“Hmm, not only do you return what is ours, you return it, even though you have a claim to it.” Ragnok stroked his chin, thinking hard about the situation.

“Of course, according to goblin custom, the rightful owner is the maker. There are several items which carry a family crest within this trunk. But that doesn’t give anyone the right to take what is yours.” Harry replied.

“And, for the return of these items, you wish for us not to reveal that it was you who entered our vaults and liberated their content?” Ragnok asked.

“That is one of two things I request, yes.”

“And what is the second request?”

“The second, is the challenge I have for your people, oh Great King. The challenge, is to do nothing.” The various goblins around him raised eyebrows. “The dork wanker that called himself Voldemort is returning. I don’t know when, or how, just that it will likely be soon. I intend to put him down properly this time. Which will be easier, the fewer resources he has. My request is that when he does return, Gringotts close. Until he is defeated.”

Three goblin jaws hit the floor. The king maintained his composure. “You wish us to close our doors? To everyone?”

“Yes, to everyone. Given that the majority of the ministry positions are held by individuals already loyal to the dork wanker, I expect that they will attempt to cover up his return until it is too late for anyone to successfully fight back. And that the ministry itself will be the first to fall. If they are unable to get to their gold, they won’t be able to bribe their way in deeper. And thus will be easier to defeat. Plus the average person is far less likely to buy into the lies they will tell, when they can’t get to their gold.”

“So, to be sure we understand correctly. You wish for us to forget that it was you who robbed the Malfoy vault, and to close Gringotts when Voldemort returns. Is that correct?” Ragnok asked.  
“Lestrange as well.” Harry said, realizing the loophole. “I robbed the Lestrange vault also.”

Ragnok let out a full throated laugh. “We hadn’t even noticed. But then with all the Lestranges in Azkaban, how could we.” The Kings eyes narrowed in thought. “I require one other thing before I will agree to this.”

“What is that, Great King?”

“The method you used to breach our security. I want to know how it was done.”

Harry nodded. “Accepted.” 

Ragnok nodded. “Agreed.”

With those words the deal was confirmed, and Harry began to explain how he had robbed the Malfoys and Lestranges.

On the first of July, John and Harry were attending a meeting with Harden Hardy, one of the adult muggle-born who had joined the alliance. He had left magical society shortly after his graduation from Hogwarts in 1973. Due to the lack of education on non-magical subjects offered at Hogwarts, Hardy had joined the armed forces and went to war. When he learned of the things that the death eaters were doing from a friend who had stayed in magical society, he had enlisted in her Majesty’s Special Air Services, assuming that with more training came a higher likelihood of survival. He’d been forced to retire however, when a landmine took his left leg off at the knee.

“Ah, good morning you two.” Hardy called from a table at the coffee shop where they were meeting.

Harry took a long look at the man. This was the first time he had met the older muggle-born. It was difficult to gauge the man’s height when he was sitting, but Harry guessed around six foot. He had a slender build, and apparently continued to exercise regularly despite the missing leg. Which Harry couldn’t tell was actually missing. The man was seated comfortably at the table, and there was no sign of either cane, or wheelchair in sight. As they approached the table though he realized he needed to say something and get his attention off the man’s leg. “Good morning.” He said as he and John took their seats.

John chuckled lightly. He had met Hardy before. “Morning Harden, how’s the leg?”

Harry tried to hold in a look of terror, while Hardy snorted out a laugh. Reaching down the older man pulled up his trouser’s leg. Revealing a gleam of bluish metal where his own leg should have been. “Titanium boyo.” He said to Harry. “Just got the new one last month. I’m one of a number of testers. The new ankle design is supposed to allow us to walk, almost normal like.”  
In pure shock from the idea Harry started to reach toward the leg. When he realized what he was doing he pulled his hand back. “Does it work?” He asked, hoping to cover his movement.  
Snorting out another laugh Hardy kicked his leg up onto a chair next to Harry. “Go ahead, touch it. Last time I’ll offer though. And to answer your question, mostly. It isn’t perfect, but it’s a damn sight better than using crutches, or being stuck in a chair.”

Harry listened to his answer through burning ears as he laid a hand across the cold metal. He had a thought in the back of his head that he could do better, but he had no idea how. Finally he looked up. “Wow, that sounds both really cool, and really annoying.” He shrugged a bit, unable to think of anything else to say.

“Hit it on the head there boyo. That’s about how I felt after the first day with the thing. I wouldn’t trade it back, that’s for sure. But it’s far from perfect.” Hardy picked up his coffee mug and raised it high. “To you lad, this is one grand idea you came up with. And I’m proud to be a part of it. Even if I am only in an advisory role.” Throwing back a swig he winked at the waitress who had just wandered over. “Hey gorgeous, a refill for me, and whatever my friends are having.”  
The waitress smiled and took their orders. Harry noticed that she was rather pretty, but shrugged that off.

“So, what is this meeting about Harden?” John asked before the other two could go off on another tangent. “Not that I mind meeting with you, this is an odd location though.”

“Not wrong there. This isn’t the location though, just the easiest place to meet. We’ll be picked up in a few minutes. We’re improperly dressed for the meeting. Sorry for the secrecy but I didn’t want your partners along. Don’t get me wrong, I like Arthur, and Xeno’s a hoot. But they wouldn’t know how to act where we’re going, and we don’t want to cause any offense.”

Glad the drinks had arrived while Hardy was talking, Harry took a long drink to hide his confusion and worry. Unfortunately, Hardy refused to explain further. He only said that the meeting was important.

True to his word, it was only ten minutes before a stretched limo pulled up to the shop and they were ushered in. They were taken to a men's store where they were fitted with extremely fine suits, which Hardy insisted on paying for. Once they were suited they were off again. This time they were driven up to the side entrance of number ten Downing Street, and Harry started hyperventilating.

They were led into a meeting room after being relieved of any weapons, including Harry and Harden’s wands, and were left there. Harry decided this was a good thing as it gave him time to get his breathing under control. John sat next to him running a soothing hand along his back, and whispering that everything would be fine.

When Prime Minister John Majors walked into the room flanked by a bevvy of guards John rose, followed slowly by Harry. Both bowed slightly and stumbled over a polite greeting. When the door opened again and the Queen herself entered the room Harry’s knees buckled, and John hit the floor beside him almost as fast. “Your Majesty.” They spoke together, and heard a soft chuckle next to them from Hardy, who amazingly had also went down to one knee.

If Harry had been able to look up he would have seen the look of amusement pass over the Queens face as she waved to the Prime Minister. Taking the seat at the head of the table she spoke to the wizards. “You may rise, please sit. May I offer tea?”

Harry needed a hand up, his knees were still not quite obeying him. He happily took the seat he was offered. John answered for them. “Yes please, thank you, your Majesty.”

When tea had been served, and everyone had enjoyed a sip, Harden spoke. “Your Majesty, Prime Minister, may I introduce, John Granger and his ward, Harry Potter.”

“Potter,” the Queen spoke calmly, “this is the boy you mentioned. Who supposedly ended perhaps the greatest threat to our nation, since Hitler?”

Harden replied gravely. “Yes, your Majesty, that is correct. Although I have heard him say that it was not he who was responsible for that.”

“Indeed?” The Prime Minister’s voice was smooth, Harry thought. “Perhaps we could have the young man tell us himself.” He smiled warmly at Harry. “Assuming you can find your voice son? I assure you, we won’t bite.”

“Umm, yes sir, I, I mean, no sir, I mean, of course. I’d be happy to tell you what I can.” Both the Queen and Prime Minister were forced to hide their laughter at the young man’s flustered appearance. Slowly Harry began to speak, becoming more clear and his voice growing in confidence as he told the story as he knew it.

“Well, I guess I should start with some background information. A little over twenty years ago, there was a wizard who went bad. His name was Tom Marvolo Riddle, if you look you can find him in the records of orphans from around fifty or sixty years ago. Sometime during his teen years he began calling himself Voldemort. He disappeared after he left Hogwarts, and returned with a following of bigots who called themselves death eaters. These people turned their hatred, and murderous intentions on everyone who chose not to bow at their feet. While claiming that they were only opposed to muggles, muggle-born, and half-bloods.” Here he had to pause and explain the difference between muggles and wizards, and the concept of purebloods, and half-bloods. “So the death eaters were terrorizing everyone really. But then a prophecy was spoken to Albus Dumbledore.” Seeing recognition in the faces of his listeners Harry breathed a sigh of relief that he wouldn’t have to explain who Dumbledore was, then considered the fact that the Prime Minister and the Queen somehow knew who the headmaster was. “This prophecy said that someone with the power to defeat the dark lord would be born. Part of it was overheard by one of the death eaters who told it to Voldemort.” Internally Harry was smiling at the realization that he had just said the dork wankers name for the third time and no one was flinching. “Voldemort decided that the prophecy must refer to me, and set out to kill me, never mind that I was a newborn. My family went into hiding. My parents managed to avoid him for a little over a year. Then they made the choice to make Peter Pettigrew their secret keeper.” Again he had to pause to explain the fidelius charm. “As my mother expected, Voldemort showed up at the house a week later. Dad, not knowing what mom had planned tried to fight him off, but he failed. According to mom’s journal, dad never used anything lethal in a fight. Mom ran with me to my nursery. I don’t know for sure why, but she never raised her wand against that monster. He killed her right in front of where I was laying in my crib. He cast the killing curse at me, and learned that my mother was not someone he wanted to mess with. He never saw this.” Here he raised the hair from his face revealing his famous scar. “Everyone assumes that this scar is where the killing curse bounced off of me. It isn’t, it’s the only outward mark of what my mother did. She placed a soul ward on me. A soul ward is a special kind of protection which causes any kind of soul magic to bounce off the target. According to her journal she thought she may have done it in such a way that it would reflect any soul magic cast at me by Voldemort, while allowing anyone else’s to pass through. I don’t know, because no one has cast any at me yet, that I know of anyway.”

He was interrupted by the Queen. “Why would not everyone do this soul ward if it is so useful?”  
Harry smiled sadly. “It’s illegal. Also, most people don’t know how. All soul magic was made illegal twelve hundred years ago, and every bit of writing on the subject that could be found was destroyed. One of my ancestors from that time was a master of soul magic, and he hid his writings very well. He had argued against the outlawing of the subject, but was unsuccessful. Mom found his notes and used them to design the ward she placed on me. If anyone had found out what she was doing, she could have faced prison for it.”

“For protecting her child?” The Prime Minister looked outraged at this. “I could understand if this ward would cause harm to you, or even to innocent bystanders. But if all it does is protect you from this madman.” The man seemed to lose his voice, and had to take a sip of tea to calm his anger before he could speak again. “My apologies young man, that was rude of me to interrupt you. Please continue.”

“That's pretty much the end of it. Dumbledore took me to my aunt’s, had Sirius Black arrested for the crimes of Peter Pettigrew, and allowed the death eaters to go free. Claiming they deserved the chance to change their ways”

“Why would he do that?” Mister Majors asked slowly.

John Granger took over for Harry. “As far as we can tell, he was not aware that Peter was the secret keeper, he believed it was Sirius. He placed Harry with his remaining relatives, and as for the death eaters, well frankly, I think he’s a bit senile. I get the impression from the few conversations I’ve had with him that he truly believes that the death eaters were misled by their leader, and really wanted to repent, and become better people. This ignores the fact that they control the majority of the magical government, what they call the Ministry of Magic, and have passed a dozen laws in support of Voldemort’s agenda.”

“That certainly sounds like he’s in denial about these people.” The Queen said solemnly. “So, what has this to do with the current situation?”

Now it was Hardy’s turn to speak. “Voldemort still lives. He was only broken that night. He is building support, and while we are unsure of the timing of his plans, we are aware that he intends to make another grab at the country. He intends to enslave or kill everyone, yourselves included. We,” he indicated John and Harry, “are building a resistance, to stand against him when he does. We wanted you to be aware of what was happening, to have a say, if you want one. And to have a chance to get any bystanders out of the way where possible.”

“You’re saying that you anticipate a civil war in the UK sometime in the near future. And that when it comes, you want us to simply stand aside?” Prime Minister Majors asked softly.

“Essentially correct, yes.” Harden replied.

The Queen nodded to the Prime Minister. “Very well,” the Minister said, “we’ll stay out of the way, as long as it stays out of the public eye. We’ll want regular updates though, sent to my office. You know the protocols Captain Hardy, I’ll expect monthly reports.”

“Yes sir.” Hardy replied with a salute. “Happy to oblige.”


	52. Chapter 52

“Happy Birthday!” The cry of a hundred voices as Harry stepped out of the elevator into the lobby of the islands hotel nearly knocked him over. It was July 31st, which was certainly Harry’s birthday. However, while he expected his family to remember, he hadn’t thought that anyone else would, or that they would do anything if they did.

So, when almost every member of the Alliance showed up for a surprise party that lasted all day, Harry wasn’t just surprised. He was amazed.

The day was incredible though. A great many beach games had been set up, along with at least a dozen grills. Food was being served everywhere, along with drinks ranging from muggle sodas, to pumpkin juice, to various alcoholic beverages. Every person present under the age of twenty five was in swim clothes, and most of the older crowd as well. 

There were people scuba diving, continuing to map the cove floor. Someone had found a pearl bed at some point, and there was a bet going as to who would be the first to find something else of value on the sea bed.

Several groups had headed inland to explore the newly planted forest, and examine the glass domes that had been set up around the island. These had been completed, but were still waiting for the rune work and enchantments that would expand the interiors. That was slated for tomorrow, after which Carl Greensward the muggle-born herbology master who was in charge of the planting efforts, would begin designing the habitats each would hold. Neville had already been offered an apprenticeship with the almost thirty year old. Which had been accepted heartily. Together they would be designing and arranging several different ecosystems, one in each dome.

Late in the day Harry was dragged into the hotel restaurant for the cake cutting, which turned out to be thirty seven cakes, and present opening. Unfortunately there were so many presents that Harry had begun to zone them out by the time he finished. A couple dozen books on topics ranging from classes, to healing, to enchanting, to wards, and even one on animagus training. Many of them were already in his library. Several packages of sweets, and candies. Fifteen different figurines of various magical creatures. And a few pieces of jewelry, which he had to ask the twins about. Apparently there was a tradition in magical society for young women to give jewelry to young men they were interested in. Then there was John’s gift. A complete set of dungeons and dragons magic item compendium, which he explained was to give Harry ideas.

As night fell across the island, most people were settling down. A few were enjoying some night time swimming. Others were drinking in the hotel bar. Harry and Luna however were approaching the islands ritual circle. He had set this up special for Luna. A stone circle, modelled after Stonehenge, on the western side of the island. It was set on top of a small rise where sunrise and sunset could easily be viewed, yet the entire location was all but invisible until you were already there.

With the circle already defined, and in such a way that it would be obvious even to someone who had never studied rituals, the birthday ritual they had done for Luna’s birthday would be easy to reenact for Harry’s.

In the morning, John called Harry to his study. “Harry, I’ve been wanting to chat with you about something important, and private.” He said with a meaningful look. Catching on, Harry pulled out his wand and set some privacy charms. “Thank you, now, about that prophecy. Can you tell me what it says? And why you think it’s unimportant?”

Harry grimmaced, he’d been worried that John would bring this up. “Yeah, okay. The prophecy said, The one with the power to vanquish the dark lord approaches. Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies. And the dark lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the dark lord knows not. And either must die at the hand of the other, for neither can live while the other survives. The one with the power to vanquish the dark lord will be born as the seventh month dies. I don’t know for sure how much was overheard, just that it was only part of it.”

“That sounds pretty bad Harry. When did you learn of this?” John asked looking a bit stern.

“Neville told me about it after christmas. During the Hogsmeade visit in February we went to the Ministry to hear the full prophecy. After that I grabbed some books on interpreting prophecies from the library and tore the thing apart.”

“What did you find?” John asked quickly, now looking curious.

“First there are several problems with the prophecy. With no names being mentioned, nor any identifying elements for the dark lord, it’s impossible to be sure that it actually referred to moldy farts. Also while the identifying elements of the person with the supposed power seem to refer to me, they could easily refer to Neville, or any of a large number of other people. The seventh month is kind of vague. Is that the seventh month according to the modern calendar, or the Chinese calendar, or the old Celtic calendar maybe? It could also be the lunar calendar, which is close, but not quite the same. Also the prophecy fails to mention a location, so it could easily refer to someone born outside the country, it also fails to mention a year. Everyone who heard it, assumed it meant the year it was uttered. Next there’s the power mentioned. No indication of what this power is, which makes it’s mention completely meaningless. Then there’s the worst part. Either must die at the hand of the other. There are two possible interpretations to that line. The one most seem to have accepted is that either he kills me, or I kill him. However according to the books I’ve read on interpreting prophecies, a second possibility would be that both of us have to die. Personally I really don’t like that idea. So all together, I really think it would be best for us to simply ignore that the prophecy was ever made. At best it would be a distraction from our plans, as people might decide to just leave the whole mess for me to deal with alone. If the thing is real, it will come about no matter what we do, if not, then hoping in it would get us all killed.”

“Wow, okay, that’s a lot to think about. I’m going to agree with you for now, and if I think of anything else, I’ll ask you about it before I mention it to anyone else.” John was looking a bit shell-shocked.

The final match of the dueling circuit approached swiftly after Harry’s birthday. Matches had so far gone rather like the first. Harry’s teammates were good, but a bit less than spectacular. With everything else going on Harry hadn’t had time to train with any of them on advanced tactics. Which meant that he was still the top ranked on his team, despite a few of his teammates being older and more experienced. He was fairly sure that if he didn’t bother with the mind arts he would be a lot lower in the rankings. Knowing what his opponents were doing before they did, gave him a real advantage.

Still, the rest of the British team were quite good. Susan had yet to lose a match, and while the rest of the team had spotty win records, they had managed to consistently have more wins on their side of the tournament than their opponents, but only just.

As the team readied themselves for the final tournament, held in Germany, there was a fair amount of chatter in the locker room. Harry sat amidst the flow of voices, and simply allowed the pool of humanity to flutter around him. None of the chatter had any effect on Harry, as he had been undefeated for the entire circuit he was confident in his ability to at least put in a good showing today. However there was a new reason to win today. The team had just been informed that the prize for today’s victory was tickets to the quidditch world cup. A special box had been reserved for the dueling circuit winners.

While Harry had lost interest in quidditch, the world finals would be an exciting game to watch, and the rest of the team were really interested. So Harry was carefully going over his strategy for the day’s match.

The door of the locker room opened and the team rose to file out. However before they could move the voice of the manager broke over them. This was unusual, as the team manager hadn’t bothered with a pep talk at all during the previous matches.

“Listen up.” The manager called to the team. “I know I haven’t been one for chatting before a match. I prefer to let your wands do the talking. Today though, is the last match of the season. Today will decide three things for you. First, who wins the European finals. If you win, you get bragging rights, a hundred galleons each, a trophy to display as you see fit, and your names plastered on every news outlet in Europe. Second, if you win, we all get to attend the quidditch world cup final match, in a special box set up just for us. Your immediate families will also be welcome. And third, the results of this seasons matches will be reviewed next year when we put together the next team. Do well today, and you will have an easier time returning to the team next year. So get out there and show them what the British are made of.”

While less than inspiring, Harry thought, it did get the point across well enough. The team seemed to be a little more confident, and was striding out to the seats they had been assigned for the match. Where they would watch their teammates strive for victory, while quietly stressing over their own turns.

Before the dueling began several officious looking folks stood to make long speeches. Harry ignored them, while he knew it was a bit rude, he was more concerned with his upcoming duel than with the organisers patting themselves on the back. Or the three national representatives, talking about how great their countries are. There was Bartemious Crouch, head of the department of international magical cooperation, for the UK. Slate Vortenmos, head of magical education for the Bulgarian Ministry of Magic. And Kruse Sigamuss the German Minister for Magic. Each gave a speech about the honor of being involved in the tournament, and to have made it to the finals. To Harry it sounded a lot like waffle, and look how great I am. Rather than, as the manager had put it, letting the wands do the talking. After all, this was a dueling tournament, not a debate.

Finally the various speech givers left the stage, and the duelists were called up. This was the frightening part of the match. The drawing of the contestants. Harry had barely paid any attention to it the first time up, but he had learned that it could make a real difference. The procedure was simple enough though, the two teams would send a jet of magic into a stand set at the center of the stage. A dial on the stage would spin and point to one of the teams. Whichever team was chosen would then line up and pull names from a bag. Whichever name was chosen would be that team members opponent. Three times Harry had been required to draw a name, and each of those matches had ended up being a difficult challenge for him. When the dial slowed and pointed to the UK team, he wondered if this would be the same, or if this would be the break in the pattern.

The Bulgarian team stood on short plinths with their names, printed in gold, at their feet. The British team lined up to draw their opponents from a black bag. Slowly each of his teammates drew a name and went to stand on their own plinths opposite their opponents. Harry had ended up in the middle of the line, so when he reached into the bag there were still five names left to draw. The rounded bit of pearl he drew held the name Kurt Vone in curling gold script. Looking to where the opposing team stood he saw that Kurt Vone was a tall burly young man, older than Harry, and most likely in his last year on the junior circuit. Feeling a bit less confident, Harry took his position opposite the young man.

Susan had drawn a rather small boy by the name of Artemius Krust, who looked like he was used to being used for target practice. Harry made a note to warn her to expect him to dodge, a lot.

Looking over the rest of the team, Harry noted that there were no girls on the Bulgarian team. They had of course been told of that earlier, but Harry, being the sceptic he was, didn’t accept it completely until now. The only reason they had been told of the lack of girls was that the Bulgarian team didn’t respect women. Harry had immediately come up with three other possible reasons, realizing that they had most likely been told that in order to make them angry towards their opposition.

Just as Harry was beginning to assess his strategy in light of his opponent, and plan out how he would need to adapt, the teams were instructed to leave the stage and take their seats. The UK team quickly gathered for a round of encouragement and advice. Harry wasn’t the only one to warn Susan about dodging, and Harry was warned by Samuel that Vone’s shield charm tended to be overpowered, and he was good at aiming the spells it reflected. That would make a difference in his strategy, though admittedly a small one, as Harry had not yet been able to break through a shield spell, he didn’t include hitting a shield in his plans. Fortunately, Harry would be third up, which gave him time to consider his options and think of a plan of attack that would work.

Samuel was up first, his opponent was a short stocky boy of about fifteen. The two took the stage, Samuel lowered himself into a crouching stance, one Harry had only seen him use once before. It made him into a smaller target, and gave him room to move quickly in any direction, but looked like he was cowering, which was why hardly anyone ever used that stance, other than Harry himself who liked the advantage it gave him. However, according to most of the more experienced duelists, it was a stance that often proved useful against more skilled opponents. And the last time Samuel had used it, he had lost.

When the gong sounded to begin the two moved and lights flashed. Spells soared between them. Back and forth they went, for almost four minutes before Samuel crumpled to the floor, having zigged when he should have zagged, and learned what a stunner to the head feels like.

Johnathan was up next, as Harry watched the duel unfold he considered that Johnathan was one of several Gryffindors who hadn’t joined the Alliance. Not for the first time he wondered why, was it a lack of connection to anyone already in, or was it something more sinister. Before Harry could get too distracted though, Johnathan's duel was over, and once more the UK had lost. Harry was up.

Rising slowly from his seat, Harry took a long deep breath to expel all the extraneous thoughts, and bring his plan back to the front of his mind. The stage was slightly springy under his feet as he stepped up to take his position. Raising his wand high, in the accepted high guard position was a surprise for his teammates. And a way to throw Vone off guard. From this stance every experienced duelist would expect a strong offense from the start, the kind intended to batter down defenses. Exactly what his team had warned him against. As Harry intended, Vone smiled wolfishly across the stage and took a more defensive mid guard stance, similar to Harry’s usual stance, and Harry could almost see a shield forming at the tip of his wand.

The gong sounded, a shield sprang out of Vone’s wand, Harry brought his own wand down in an arc and a wash of blue flowed across the stage. As the light reached Vone the tall boy simply hopped over it and laughed. Then he took a step forward curling his wand and began to cast a stinger. Harry simply smirked as the boy’s foot came down on a floor with no friction and slid out from under him. As the boy went down in a move reminiscent of one of John’s favorite film actors learning to do the splits, Harry shot off a round of tickling, hair change, skin change, horn growing, and blindfolding hexes. The last one missed as Vone finally rolled to the side clutching his groin, where he had apparently pulled a muscle. To everyone’s surprise the boy threw his wand at Harry’s feet, the universal sign of surrender. Vone had yielded the duel, the first yield they had seen this season, and inside of twenty seconds.

Harry returned to the waiting team, to many backslaps and shouts of congratulations. They were now two wins to one, so it was still up for grabs, but the UK team had started strong at least.

Twenty minutes later it was over. Holly Parks, Susan Bones, and Charlotte Swan had each won their duels, while the rest of the team had lost. It was a tie, and the judges were adding up the points.

Holly had won by knockout, hitting her opponent with a stunner. Susan managed to render her opponent incapable of movement, which counted the same as a knockout. Charlotte had won a points victory when she and her opponent had landed simultaneous disarming spells. Which would be a good sign, except two of the losses had also been points victories.

The team was on edge, clutching each others hands, several of them muttering off colour phrases. Until at last the judges rose and their spokesman stepped forward to address the crowd.

“We are proud to present the European dueling final victory trophy this year, to a team which has worked hard, and overcome many obstacles. For the first time in ten years, the final match has come down to a question of points. In the first bought of the day Samuel Puckle versus Firelius Ding, Puckle earned twenty two points, while Ding managed thirteen. In the second match of the day, Johnathan Switch versus Anthony Corn, Switch scooped thirty seven points to Corn’s forty three. Harry Potter versus Kurt Vone saw a complete upset, as Potter earned seven points to Vone’s zero.” Here the judge had to pause as the crowd screamed it’s appreciation for Harry’s victory. “Charlotte Swan gathered in fourteen points while her opposite Justin Fang snatched twenty eight. Holly Parks brought her team twenty three, while Klovus Kine raked in thirty two. Susan Bones pulled out forty six points for the UK team, while Synabon Sweetlick swept up forty two. And finally in the last match of the day, Kevin Tolwitt for the UK team brought in twenty seven versus Krovat Rang’s fourteen. Leaving the final tally at, UK one hundred seventy six points, Bulgaria one hundred seventy two. Meaning the UK team is this years European dueling champions.”

Harry was unable to hear the end of the announcement as the UK team had risen as one in a cheer so loud he thought surely it could be heard at Hogwarts. They had won, they had won!

The team met one final time at the British national dueling arena to take the portkey to the campgrounds where the Quidditch World Cup final was to be held. The portkey turned out to be the dueling trophy which would later be housed at the arena, commemorating the victory they had achieved.

When they landed, Harry internally commented to himself that he still didn’t care for portkey travel. However as he was not yet ready to reveal his travel portals to the general world, he didn’t have a lot of choice.

The dueling team had a pavilion tent set up for them with several tables, and a long bench holding a massive variety of foods.

Sadly, as non-magicals were not allowed to attend, John and Jean weren’t present, and as the number of people he could bring with was limited, the Weasley’s had to purchase their own tickets. Harry had brought only Xeno and Luna, the extra ticket he gave to Professor Flitwick, who brought his nephew Findan.

While the adults gathered to discuss the game, the duelists along with their younger family members were ushered off to mingle and look around. Harry gathered Luna, Susan, Findan, and Hannah, who had come with Susan, and together they went off to see who else they could find.

The little group eventually found the Weasley’s and were joined by the twins, Ron, and Ginny. Several hours were spent wandering through the crowds, greeting friends from school, and deliberating over the few stalls they found selling souvenirs. Most of the group bought themselves hats, face paintings, and omnioculars. Harry settled for a lucky Irish hat, which was covered in clovers. This turned out to be a fortuitous find a few minutes later when they ran into Seamus Finnigan, one of Ron’s dormmates in Gryffindor.

“Oi, you lot.” The young Irishman called as they passed by a group of tents that could almost pass as small hills. The tents were covered in shamrocks, which were curling in the breeze.  
Ron returned the greeting and introduced everyone. Just as they were joined by Seamus’ mother, who immediately noticed Harry’s hat. “Ah, good to see you’ll be supporting Ireland then.” She turned at the sound of someone commenting on the Irish tents. “Ai, we’ve had a few of the ministry boys over here to complain about them. But then wait till you see what the Bulgarians have all over their tents.”

Harry insisted that they stay long enough for him to ask about where they had gotten the tents, as with the green coating, they would blend in better in a woodsy surrounding. Unfortunately Mrs. Finnigan explained that it was merely a charm they had set up for the event, and would wear off in a few days. Though she did consent to teach him the charm, so he could use it on his tent later.

When they found the Bulgarian tents they saw what she had been talking about. Banners covered the area, each banner displaying an image of the same person. A rather young looking man with dark hair and eyes, and a large, hooked nose. Ron informed the group that this was Krum, the Bulgarian team’s seeker.

As Ron started to talk about how great Viktor Krum was Harry got a surprise. Kurt Vone his opponent from the dueling finals rushed over to greet him.

“Potter, it is a pleasure to see you here. Come please, you must meet some friends of mine. They are dying to meet the young man who defeated me so easily.” Kurt said as he wrung Harry’s hand.

As the small knot of people Kurt seemed to be indicating was nearby and clearly visible to his companions, Harry grabbed Susan and the twins to accompany them. It turned out that this was a group of both friends and family to the Bulgarian duelist, which included the famous seeker himself. Who was apparently Kurt’s cousin.

“Good day to you, Harry Potter.” Viktor said offering his hand, which Harry took.

“Well met, Viktor Krum.” Harry replied in Bulgarian. Which brought smiles to every nearby face. Soon they were all chattering away in Bulgarian and pleased to see that not only Harry, but also the twins were able to converse easily in their language.

When Harry’s original group called for him to return he was just writing down addresses for several of those he had met, agreeing to keep in touch.

Too soon, Harry thought, it was time for the match to begin and everyone was filing up to seats and boxes. He noted that the Malfoy’s were heading to the minister’s box, and was glad he would be elsewhere. Though he commiserated briefly with Ron and the twins as they had seats in that box as well. Apparently Mister Weasley had gotten a good deal from Ludo Bagman, and the twins had laid a bet with Bagman that Ireland would win, but Krum would get the snitch.

Bagman was doing the commentary, and he was actually rather good. Though the game moved fast enough that he barely had time to do more than call out the name of whichever player held the quaffle before it was passed, or a scoring attempt was made.

Despite having lost some interest in the game itself, Harry was caught up in the energy of the crowd and found himself cheering along with everyone else. Especially for the Vela, who were, in Harry’s opinion, the most beautiful women he had ever seen. Luna giggled at him when he tried to jump out of the box to get closer to them. She also tackled him before he could jump.

When Krum dove for the snitch the first time, everyone was on the edge of their seats. Harry tried to catch sight of the snitch himself, but he couldn’t see it anywhere. He figured out why when Krum pulled up at the last moment. A Wronski feint, intended to lure an opposing seeker into a mistake, plowing into the ground. It worked, the Irish seeker kissed the ground hard enough that they could hear the impact from the box, over the crowd.

A timeout was called while the medi-wizards checked on seeker Lynch. The Leprechauns took the opportunity to jeer at the Vela, who responded with fireballs. Harry had a fun moment imagining Ron gathering Leprechaun gold, thinking it would last longer than a couple of hours.

The game went on for another twenty minutes before Krum caught the snitch. Unfortunately the final score was Ireland one hundred seventy versus Bulgaria one hundred sixty. The twins had won their bet.

After the game there were a dozen parties to choose from. The dueling team of course threw their own. However, Harry was invited to join the Irish, the Bulgarians, the Weasley’s and several others. He decided to stay with the dueling team for an hour or so then join the Weasley’s.

As the evening dragged on Harry eventually tired of the party atmosphere and convinced Arthur to apparate him to the island so he could sleep in his own bed.

In the morning he was surprised to see half the Alliance in the hotel lobby. Someone passed him a copy of the daily prophet. On the front page was a photo of the dark mark hanging over the stadium.

It took ten minutes to find someone who could tell him what had happened. Arthur Weasley was sitting with Molly enjoying breakfast.

“A few minutes after I brought you back here a group of people dressed as death eaters came through the camp.”

Ginny who was just coming to the table with a plate of food leapt to add her voice to the story. “They had the camp manager and his family, hanging in the air. They were laughing and joking about what they were going to do to those poor people.” She started to tear up and Molly wrapped her in a hug.

This seemed to be the que for the rest of the family to show up as table was suddenly full of Weasley’s. Bill took up the story for Harry’s benefit. “The Auror’s showed up pretty quick and drove the death eaters away. The family was recovered and memory charmed. But then the dark mark appeared over the stadium.”

Arthur returned to the story, having assured himself that Ginny was okay. “I went with several other ministry personnel to check on what had happened. No one was killed, however we were unable to determine who had put up the mark. Whoever it was seems to have disapparated just after putting up the mark. The only being found in the vicinity was a house elf by the name of Winky, who belonged to Barty Crouch.”

“Crouch?” A new voice joined the family as Sirius sat down next to Harry, placing a plate in front of his godson as he did. “What does that arrogant ass have to do with it?” He asked.

“Sirius, language.” Molly admonished.

“Sorry, Molly.” Sirius responded, ducking his head.

“Nothing as far as we could tell. Though he was rather angry with his elf. I think he might actually have sent her away.” Arthur answered Sirius.

“Sent her away?” Asked Harry. “As in, given her clothes?”

“Yes, I think so.” Arthur said confusedly. “Why do you ask?”

“We were just discussing a couple of days ago that we need more elves here. While we have plenty of people willing to do the work, a few more elves would make a lot of things easier. Plus we’ll eventually get to a point where we’ll need the humans doing something else. If he did give her clothes, is there a way we can hire her?”

“Yes.” To Harry’s surprise it was Bill who answered. “But you’d need to find her first, and that could prove to be difficult.”

“Hmm.” Harry thought for a minute. “What about another elf? Could say, Dobby find her?”

“Maybe.” It was Charlie who answered this time. “We don’t really know hw elves communicate with one another, just that they do. So it’s possible Dobby would know a way to get in touch with her. Certainly can’t hurt to ask.”

“Okay, Dobby.” Harry called.

“Master Harry Potter sir.” Came Dobby’s voice from behind Harry. Then a weight slammed into his side as the little elf tried to wrap his stubby arms around the green eyed wizard. “What can Dobby do for the great Harry Potter sir?”

“Hey Dobby.” Harry turned to return the elf’s hug. “Dobby, I was wondering if you knew an elf by the name of Winky?”

“Oh yes, master Harry Potter sir, Dobby knows Winky sir.” Dobby hung his head as he spoke. “Winky is very sad master Harry Potter sir. Winky was released last night.”

“Yes, that’s right. Can you bring her here Dobby?” Harry asked.

“Oh yes, master Harry Potter sir.” Dobby disappeared with a pop.

“Well, that probably won’t take long.” Charlie said. “House elves are usually pretty fast with deliveries.”

A small pop accompanied the return of Dobby with another elf. The new elf was slightly shorter than Dobby, though she had the same tennis ball size eyes. She was dressed in a very nice pink dress.

“You must be Winky.” Sirius said, smiling at the elf.

“Yes sir, I is being Winky sir.” The new elf replied.

Harry knelt to look Winky in the eye. “Winky, we understand you have been released from your former family. We would like to offer you a position here with us.”

“You, you wish to bond with Winky? But Winky is a disgraced elf sir.”

“Released Winky, not disgraced. At least in my opinion.” Harry said softly.

“Winky would be happy to work for Harry Potter sir.” The elf said quietly, her head bowed.

“Excellent Winky, welcome to the family then. Umm, as you weren’t originally a Potter elf, do I need to do anything to bring you into the family?”

“Dobby will take care of that master Harry Potter sir.” Dobby said, bouncing on his toes. “Dobby knows what needs to be done. It is very simple master Harry Potter sir, and you have already done your part by inviting Winky to join the family sir.”

“That’s good then Dobby. I’ll leave it to you. Show her around the island, she’ll be joining you for now. We’ll sit down later and discuss any special skills.” He smiled at the elves, who returned the smile and popped away.

“Well, that’s all taken care of, there’s something important I need to talk to the kids about before they leave for Hogwarts.” Sirius said. “All of you meet me at the ritual circle at three o’clock this afternoon.”

The rest of the morning was spent reassuring each other that everyone was unharmed. When three o’clock came around several of the junior members of the Alliance met at the ritual circle.

“So what’s going on?” Susan asked as they milled about.

“I don’t know.” Hermione answered. “Sirius asked us to meet him here.”

“I can answer that Hermione.” A voice curled out the shadows around the stones. From a pool of deep shadow at the foot of a menir stepped an enormous black dog. 

Most of the students moved away from the dog, all except Harry, who stepped forward. “Padfoot, what’s up?” He called to the dog.

The dog’s jaw opened, great gobs of slippery dog slobber dribbled from between its teeth. In an explosion of movement the dog charged across the circle leaping for Harry. The two went down in a tumble of limbs. The dog growling, and snapping its jaws.

The remaining students yelled, several of them raising their wands. Before they could hex the dog however a tall, slender man with greying brown hair stepped out from behind the menir. “Wait, this is Harry’s test. Don’t worry, Padfoot won’t hurt him.”

They turned back to the wrestling match between boy and dog. Except the boy was gone. Instead the dog was wrestling with a messy furred black badger. The two rolled about for less than a minute before both shifted and two men rolled off of each other and started laughing. A moment later the others were joining in the laughter.

“Alright, everyone gather around.” Lupin called joining the two already on the ground, and tucking his legs under him. Today you will all be joining the Marauders naming ceremony.” He motioned to the ground around them, and slowly everyone present took seats in a large circle.

“Did you say?” Fred said

“Marauders naming ceremony?” George finished.

“What exactly does that mean?” Susan asked, taking a seat next to George. And pulling Neville down next to her.

“Each of the Marauders received their name in a ceremony.” Sirius began quietly. “We were each named for an aspect of our animagus form. I, for example, was named Padfoot due to the nature of my form’s paws. Harry’s dad, Prongs, was named for his antlers. Today each of you shall receive your names. Based on some aspect of your form, which either you will demonstrate or discuss, depending on whether you have reached the point in your efforts where you can achieve the transformation on your own.”

Remus picked up the explanation. “We’ll go around the circle, and name each of you here before we leave. Starting with Harry.” One finger rose to point to the messy haired genius.

“Umm, so how do we figure out names?” Harry asked.

“Anyone is allowed to nominate a name, but the final choice requires a vote, at least three quarters must agree for the name to stick.” Sirius answered. “So to begin with, I nominate the name Bushy.”

A round of laughter followed, and soon several voices were calling out possible names. “Claws,” “Eyes,” “Waddles,” were some of the more appropriate names. After ten minutes of back and forth discussion including much laughter, Sirius finally got serious and nominated the name, Digger, and told the story of how he had begun the process of digging into the chamber where they found the source of the curse on the island. That impressed everyone enough that when Remus called for a vote, it was unanimous.

“That’s got it.” Remus said, rising to lay a hand on Harry’s shoulder. “We hereby name thee, Mister Digger.” He handed Harry a slip of parchment. “Please recite the Marauders oath.”

Blinking a few tears from his eyes, Harry lifted the parchment and began to read. “I, Mister Digger, do hereby swear upon the friendships I have with those gathered here. That I shall always stand with you, or crawl as the case may be. That I shall hold you as dear unto me as though you were my own flesh. Your secrets, are my secrets, your happiness, and your tears, mine to share. Ever shall we walk together. So may it be.” Reaching the end of what was written he lowered the parchment to look around at the others. Lupin smiled and nodded, Sirius leapt to his feet to sweep Harry into a hug. A moment later they were joined, one by one, by the others, most of whom were cheering their own joy at the moment.

Once everyone had settled down they moved on to the next in line, Fred. He too received many nominations for names. Including “robber,” “brush tail,” and many more inappropriate names. It was George who found the name that finally stuck, “Chaos.”

George was up next, after Fred had sworn the Marauders oath. And after many nominations was sworn in as Mister Bandit.

All together the group remained in the circle for four hours, as each person was nominated for at least a dozen names before the final count indicated a keeper. Hermione became Miss Hunter. Neville was named Mister Flutters for his hummingbird form. Luna took the longest and was eventually dubbed Miss Hugs. Susan, who was almost done with the potion, happily demonstrated her form by slugging a dose, and became a rather playful fox, was named Miss Clever.

On the way back to the hotel, Harry finally asked Neville and Susan about their decision to become animagus.

“I overheard Hermione asking Professor Lupin about it, one evening in the Chamber.” Neville explained. “When I asked her about it she explained about her efforts, but that she couldn’t tell me if anyone else was doing it, unless they agreed. I think she forgot to ask you about it, because she never did tell me much more, beyond how to do it myself. I don’t know about Susan.”

“I’ve been training under aunt Amelia, since last summer. She told me it might save my life someday. She’s going to file my paperwork, so that if I ever have to use it in a way that gets noticed, I’m covered. But no one will be able to find out until I’m ready for them to.” Susan answered before anyone could ask. “When I caught the twins practicing in the hotel I asked to join them. They didn’t tell me anyone else was involved.”

“So, how did you get invited today?” Harry wondered out loud.

“We’re very good at finding out things we aren’t supposed to know.” Remus said over Harry’s shoulder. All three of them jumped. Remus chuckled. “I know how to spot an animagus in training, I assumed you were all doing it together, so I invited them. I guess I should have asked you about it Harry. I apologize for that.”

“No worries Mooney. It’s good to know I’m not alone.” Harry soothed the werewolf.

“So, what’s your form Professor Lupin?” Susan asked.

Fortunately they were interrupted by a chorus of voices coming from the hotel. Most of the junior Alliance members who hadn’t been invited to the ceremony were calling for those who had to join them in a bit of beach fun before everyone had to leave.


	53. Chapter 53

The trip to Hogwarts was largely uneventful with the most interesting part being when Malfoy was carried by the room Harry was sharing with a half dozen of his friends, by two burly sixth years. Harry never did find out why.

At the welcoming feast however the students were treated to a rather large surprise. Once the Sorting was finished, and before the feast was served, Headmaster Dumbledore rose to address the students.

“Good evening everyone, and welcome. I have a rather important announcement this year, and I feel it is important that you hear it now. I therefore beg you will forgive me keeping you from our excellent feast a little longer than usual. The inter house quidditch cup will not be held this year.” He had to pause here as a great many voices rose in opposition to this announcement. Dumbledore raised his hands for quiet, and it took a minute for the noise to die down enough for him to be heard again. “This is due to a revival of the triwizard tournament, which will be held at Hogwarts this year. Now I know many of you are already aware of what this tournament is, I ask for your patience as I explain it to those who do not. The triwizard tournament is a contest between the three largest European schools. It was abandoned many years ago, and every now and then there is an effort to revive the tradition. We will be joined, at the end of October, by representatives from Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang who will be competing in the tournament as well. There is however a change to the tournament rules this year, only students who are of age, that is to say, seventeen, at the time of the drawing of names will be allowed to compete. We will be taking measures to insure that no underage person places his or her name for consideration. Given the dangerous nature of the tasks which the champions shall undertake it is highly unlikely that any underage person would be able to complete them successfully. Lastly, to those of you who are interested in placing your name down, I urge you to consider most carefully your choice. Once a champions name is drawn, it represents a binding magical contract. If your name is chosen, you may not back out, but must see the contest through to the end.”

Looking around, Harry noticed that many people were humming with interest. And most of the older students were cheerily nodding that they would be entering the tournament.

Harry made a mental note to research the history of the thing, as there would likely be a few people asking for advice. And he wouldn’t be at all surprised if the twins were at the top of that list.

With only two exceptions, Harry found his classes to be rather similar to last years. Potions was still a waste of his time. Transfiguration and Charms were still informative. Arithmancy was still a lot of math, though at least it was more advanced math than last year. Thanks to completing the OWL’s for History and Astronomy he was no longer taking those. Which left Defense against the Dark Arts, which, with a new teacher was a change, and Runes, which due to completing the OWL for he was now in the more advanced NEWT class.

Runes was fascinating, now that the class was focused on the practical use of runes in magic, it was fun. Every class session included lectures on the practice of anchoring spells with the written word, or how to change which words to use. In the first class Professor Babbling demonstrated that a spell could be anchored by a word that described the effect, then demonstrated the same spell being anchored by a short poem, which also described the effect. Then she did it again, with a poem that had nothing to do with the effect. Explaining that it was necessary to have a strong connection between the effect and the words, but that connection could be something that exists entirely within the caster’s mind.

At the end of most classes they were given homework that generally included at least one anchored spell. And Harry was loving having an excuse to actually practice enchanting, and because of it, he found ways to improve everything he had enchanted so far. 

Which made the twins very excited when he showed them his new, improved magical music recorder, which now used a spell the twins had found to throw their voices, to project the music from all around them, rather than just from the recorder itself.

Defense on the other hand, with their new teacher, Alastor “Mad Eye” Moody, was an entirely new animal. In the first lesson, Moody introduced the unforgivable curses, which of course Harry was already familiar with, though he had never seen any of them cast before.

Then Moody announced that they would each have the imperius curse cast on them in turn so that they would know what it was like, and would have a chance to fight it, should they ever encounter it’s use later in their lives.

It wasn’t until the second class that this began. Moody called each of the class up and cast the spell on them. Neville was made to do some rather difficult acrobatics, Hermione was made to sing, Ron enacted one side of a brief fight, and so on. When Harry was called up, he took the place of Padma Patil and took a deep breath to prepare himself.

Lilly wrote in her journal that the spell connected with the soul in a different way from most versions of soul magic. While most caused some sort of pain, this caused joy. Somehow it flooded the target with happiness, which made it difficult to overcome the effect. In order to defeat the controlling aspect of the spell the target would have to choose to rid themselves of the happy feeling the spell caused. Which for most people was nearly impossible. Harry thought he might have an advantage over the average person though. His life held very little happiness, which while some would say would make resisting the imperius harder, he knew should actually make it easier, as he would be able to recognize its effect more readily, and it would not feel normal for him to be happy.

Moody’s wand came up, and the curse was cast. “Imperio.” A wonderful warm feeling, as though a hundred of Hermione and Luna’s hugs were wrapped around him all at once, immediately took hold. Somewhere in the midst of the joy flooding his senses was a voice, a voice that said over and over again, “jump onto the desk, jump onto the desk.”

Behind the voice was a whisper, something he could only just detect, a whisper that if he failed to do as the voice demanded, that the joy would be replaced with pain. And beside that smaller voice was an echo, a shadow of the normal everyday feeling that was his normal state. A part of him recoiled from that feeling. A part of him that had always hungered for the love of a parent, for the companionship of siblings, even for the smallest sense of normalcy. That part reached for the happiness, screamed that he must do whatever it took to hold onto that feeling.

Another part though, roared that it was wrong. That this happiness was false, that’s its promise was a lie. The part of him that knew what was happening, that understood raged inside. The pain it screamed was a part of him, a part of what made him who he is. And that to give in to the spell would be a betrayal of the family he had.

Slowly, an image of Hermione swam into his inner turmoil, she was followed by the twins, Luna, John and Jean, Xeno, the other Weasleys. A second voice joined the first, a voice that fairly bellowed at the first.

He could now recognize the first voice as Moody’s, calling “jump onto the desk.”

The new voice, which in Harry’s head sounded like a chorus of every person he loved, turned on Moody and, with a force like a Beatles stage show shoved into one moment, screamed. “I will not!”

The spell broke, and Harry realized that the voice had not been merely in his head. Rather he had screamed his response at the real Moody. And released a wave of magic while he was at it. The wave struck Moody, lifting him from his seat. The man tumbled through the air to slam into the back wall of the classroom. Even those of his fellow students who had chosen to sit in the front rows were pushed back by the force of the wave. For a moment Harry felt extremely accomplished, he had beaten one of the hardest spells known to magic. Then he was hit with a swell of exhaustion as his body caught up to the amount of energy it had just released. He stumbled into a nearby chair before he could fall over, and barely heard the whoosh of the floo as someone called for assistance.

The hospital wing was just the same as most of his classes. Madam Pomfrey bustled around handing out calming drafts to most of the Defense class. Harry was put in a bed and told to remain there for the rest of the day, as was Moody, who had suffered a concussion from being tossed into the wall. Hedwig and Loki showed up after only a half hour and refused to leave Harry’s side before he had recovered.

Even Professors Flitwick and Dumbledore came down to see what had happened. When they were informed of the circumstances, Flitwick was impressed, and Dumbledore seemed concerned. They left without bothering Harry though, at Madam Pomfrey’s insistence.

Upon deeper contemplation of the unforgivable curses, as he lay in the hospital wing, he had a more visceral understanding of them, thanks to Moody’s lecture and demonstration. Harry decided that there would never be a use for the cruciatus curse, but the imperius and killing curses could have value in the right circumstances, and used for the right reasons.

When he realized that he was rationalizing the use of the imperius curse he stopped his contemplation and wondered if that meant he was turning into a monster. Placing the contemplation of the curses aside he decided he would need to talk with Hermione, Luna, and the twins. Maybe Neville and Susan too, as they were Marauders as well. He needed some help to figure this out. If he was turning into a monster, going dark as most people called it, he might not be able to tell on his own. But before he could do that, he had a meeting with Professor Flitwick to attend.

“Come in Harry.” FIlius called when Harry knocked on his door frame. “How has your first week been?”

“Interesting, I hope Professor Moody wasn’t too upset about what happened.” He gave Filius a questioning look, and wasn’t disappointed.

“He was not, just between us I think he might like you. I rather doubt that anyone has surprised him like that in several years.”

“It surprised me too.” Aware of the possibility of being overheard, even in the office of a head of house, Harry chose not to elaborate. Deep inside his head though, he had been wondering about how Moody had been thrown across a room, when he had defended against the imperius curse. That wasn’t supposed to happen, and there was no mention of such things occurring in any of the books Harry had read on the subject.

Filius drew Harry back from his mental wandering with his next comment though. “Indeed, I believe it surprised all of us. Even Dumbledore was heard to say that he had never heard of such a reaction. I daresay there will be a flurry of new research on the imperius curse and defending against it in the next few weeks.”

“Yeah, that makes sense.” Harry said, trailing off.

“Well, let’s move onto something less gloomy shall we. I’d normally be asking what classes you wanted to drop for the year. However, as you have now completed your OWL’s for most of those, it’s no longer necessary. Unless you’d like to drop defence?”

“Actually, I think I’d like to stick with Moody’s class this year. He’s covering some topics I didn’t think the class would touch on until later. And he was talking about dodging drills, which should be fun. I might want to look at taking the OWL at the end of the year though, along with a couple of others if I can.”

“That can most likely be arranged, which did you have in mind?”

“Defence, Care of Magical Creatures, and if you still want me to take it, the Potions NEWT.”

“But you’re not taking Care of Magical Creatures?” Filius looked flummoxed.

“I’ve been learning about the many amazing creatures that share our world since first year. While spending time with Hagrid, it’s really quite difficult to get him to stop talking about any animal, once you get him started. When I realized that it would be easy to learn everything I needed about creatures, just by talking to Hagrid, I just did. Then last year I realized that I already had as much, quote class time, as any of the people taking the OWL.” He held up his hands in a gesture meant to imply that he should be able to pass the test.

“Well then, yes I can arrange it for you.” The tiny Professor waved his wand and two cups of tea flew from across the room to land in front of them. Lifting one he said cheerily. “It almost seems wrong that we aren’t testing you out of a class this year. But then I suppose that’s proof that you are doing well.” 

Harry liften his own cup to mirror Flitwick. “I couldn’t have done it without you Professor.”

Checking the time, Flitwick smiled. “I feel a bit silly now. I set aside two hours this morning to meet with you, and we barely needed fifteen minutes. Perhaps I could entice you to discuss your efforts in spell creation, if you haven’t anything else pressing?”

“My next appointment is after lunch. The first meeting of the Alliance for the school year.”

They lost themselves in the topic of spell work and creation. Sharing inventions, and the stories that went with them, which were often more interesting than the spells themselves. Why exactly did this spell or that get invented was a topic of philosophical debate that often came up in Ravenclaw tower after all. And to be able to get the actual story from the inventor of a spell was a rare thing.

Eventually though it was time for lunch, and after that, meeting with the Alliance.

The meeting was rather bland in Harry’s opinion. But then it hadn’t been meant to be anything special. Just the first official get together for the Alliance at Hogwarts. A chance for everyone to say hello, and reconnect after the summer. Which turned into a cacophony of stories from the island relayed to those who hadn’t been able to join in the clean-up and rebuilding efforts.

After the main meeting though, Harry asked Fred, George, Hermione, Luna, Neville, and Susan to join him for a private chat. This was the meeting he had been looking forward to, and dreading, in equal measure, since Moody’s first lesson.

“Am I becoming a dark lord?” Harry dropped the bomb as soon as they were sure they were alone.

Fred and George had been jostling each other, half fighting over which of them got their favorite chair. They stopped at those words and slowly turned to face Harry. Neville had been examining the book on familiars that Hermione had leant him, but when Harry spoke he dropped it. The thud resounded around the room. Hermione and Susan both squeaked and stared. Luna had the most active reaction, she rushed over and wrapped the messy haired teen in a hug.

Hermione found her voice first. “I, I don’t think so Harry. I mean, do you feel like you’re going dark, because I haven’t seen any hint of that.”

“Yeah, Harry-kins, I think we would have noticed if you had started hexing everyone around you.” Fred said in a mock cheerful voice.

“Why do you ask Harry?” Susan said quietly, holding up a hand for the others to remain silent. “Let him answer guys. This is important.”

Smiling wanly at the Hufflepuff, Harry explained. “I know we always try to remind everyone that I’m not in charge. That I’m just one of the people involved, same as everyone else. But almost everyone looks to me when there’s a question. I’ve been involved, one way or another, in almost every decision, almost every action. And even the adults, who actually are doing most of the planning, and will take care of most of the more dangerous work, either look at me like I’m at least a figurehead, or wouldn’t be involved at all if I hadn’t been. And even with the tools we’ve designed to make the job easier, we still have to work out what we’re going to do with the death eaters, and Moldy once we capture them. I just feel like I’m heading down a path, without knowing where it leads.”

The redheaded Hufflepuff smiled wryly and nodded. “Aunt Amelia has said something similar. Every time she gets drunk it feels like. She told me once, that a person will walk many paths in their life. And that they won’t always be clean, or easy. And no matter how hard we try, sometimes we have to take a twisted path to get where we want to go. The trick, she said, to making sure you never take a route you don’t like, is to remember where you want to end up. As long as the goal is good, the route to get to it will be too.”

“That,” Fred whispered into the quiet after Susan’s speech.

George picked up the thread. “Sounds like really good advice.”

“But what,” Fred continued, “is the goal? Other than getting rid of Moldy and his death eaters, I mean.”

“Well, we want to fix society, don’t we?” Hermione asked softly.

“Well, yeah, Hermione, but, what does that mean?” George asked.

“It is important to define the changes one wishes to make before one can properly set course.” Luna offered. “Otherwise the wrackspurts will confuse you into doing something else.”

“Well then, let’s start with the obvious.” Susan said deliberately, pulling a notebook out of her bag. “The death eaters, what do we do with them, once their captured? Do we send them to Azkaban, do we kill them?”

“I think killing is what a dark lord would do.” Fred commented. “Which I think is what Harry wants to avoid.”

“So, Azkaban.” Neville said, lifting his head as high as he could. “I can agree with that.”

“There’s a problem with Azkaban though.” Hermione said, tapping her chin. “Dumbledore said that Moldy was close to convincing the dementors to join him. Professor Lupin mentioned that it’s likely. That if Moldy gets a new body, he’ll be able to get them onside. If he does that, then Azkaban won’t hold anyone.”

“Then we need to find a different option.” George said firmly. “We can’t just let them go.”

“No, if we did that, they’d just go right back to being death eaters.” Neville was clearly trying to look brave.

“Where could we get the money to build a new prison though?” Fred asked. “We’ve already sunk most of what we have into the island, and even if we could build a prison, we’d still need to staff it. Guards expect to get paid.”

Harry was smiling again, his friends weren’t abandoning him. They were trying to help. And maybe, maybe there was a way for them to get rid of the death eaters, without killing. They just needed to find it. A prison did seem like the best answer, but prisons all had the same problems. They had to hold prisoners, guards had to be assigned. The guards had to be constantly active, and trustworthy. After all that was the point of failure for most prison breakouts, a guard being bribed into letting prisoners go. So how to build a prison that their enemies couldn’t escape from, with guards who couldn’t be bribed.

The conversation played around him as Harry considered the problem. Possibilities were considered and abandoned rapidly, until his eye fell on a chinese puzzle box the twins had given him at some point. It made him think of another box, a box he had given to Moony. They had shrunk Padfoot and put him in a box in order to sneak him out of the country.

“Guys, guys!” Harry yelled. When everyone turned to him, he started to explain the idea. “What if, we build a miniature prison? Stay with me.” He held up his hand for quiet as everyone looked like they were going to interject at once. “Think dollhouse, we dose them with a shrinking solution, and build the wards so that it maintains the effect. Then we’d have a prison that we could move around if needed. The guards would be the wards themselves, and if we build it right, the only way for someone to get out of it would be with help from outside. Then we just have to restrict access to it.” He looked around, inviting comments now.

The group of friends looked at each other thoughtfully for several moments. Hermione had the first question. “What about feeding them?”

Neville had an answer for her. “Gardening. We shrink a bunch of plants, and set up a garden. Then they have to work for their meals. That would be fitting, don’t you think.”

Luna smiled at their newest Gryffindor friend. “That’s a great idea Neville. It would teach them to be responsible, and that they can’t get everything they want just by hexing people.”

“You know, in keeping with Harry’s not wanting to be a dark lord.” Fred said, slowly building speed as his thoughts played out. “Instead of a building, how about a village. Like say, a model of Hogsmeade. Then no one can even say that it’s cruel, because the prisoners will have their choice of homes, and room to spread out, sort of.”

George grabbed the idea. “We could go a bit bigger actually. Hogwarts, and Hogsmeade. If we make it right, they’ll be able to live just fine. But away from those they want to harm.”

“And, they can have the kind of society they want, without any outside interference. And even better, without bothering us. We can have our lives according to what we want, and they can have theirs according to what they want. No one dies, no one is tortured. It’s as far from a, quote dark, plan as you can get.” Harry rushed to lift Fred into a rib cracking hug, which was quickly joined by George. “It’s perfect, you two are amazing.”

Hermione, of course, had to be the voice of reason. “There’s just one problem though. How do we build something like that?”

Undeterred, Harry sat down and grabbed up a notebook. “Well, if it’s going to work, it will need a few things. Water, and food obviously. What else?” He jotted down thoughts as they came and motioned to the others for ideas.

It took three days of two and three hour meetings, fit in whenever they could manage, to hash out a working plan. Neville would handle getting the plants they needed, the twins would work with Sprout to devise a potion which would form the basis of keeping the plants growing inside the model, and a second which would provide water. Harry would design the frame which would hold everything in place, along with the wards that would prevent escape, and keep the weather running properly inside. Hermione would double check all their work, and provide thoughts on anything they were missing. It would take, they thought, most of the year to complete, but would serve not only as the prison which would hold the death eaters, but also as a great final project for some of their classes.

The next two months passed with little to distinguish the time beyond the occasional expected question about the tournament. Harry’s research had borne fruit, and he was a little worried by what he had learned. He really hoped they wouldn’t be using the original Goblet of Fire for the choosing. That thing was a deathtrap waiting to happen.

Fred and George had asked about getting into the tournament of course. Harry was unable to help them though, until they knew what method would be used to prevent younger students from entering their names, there was no way to work out a means of getting around it.

Others wanted to know of ways to insure that they would be chosen. That was a lot easier. If they used the original Goblet then simply entering under a different school would work. According to the records, the enchantments placed on the Goblet had been worked to allow more than just the three to enter. However when another school actually got big enough to warrant inviting them to join the tournament, it had become tradition, which no one at the time wanted to change. The problem with using the Goblet was that it didn’t choose the person most capable of winning, and didn’t care who put a person’s name in.

Whether it was intentional on the creators part, or not, Harry couldn’t find. What he did find was that after one of the tournaments had concluded, Durmstrang held a repeat of the contest. They allowed anyone from the school to enter. The champion who had been chosen by the Goblet ended up placing in the middle of the results. Surprisingly, it was one of their younger students who actually won, while the upper year the entire school had expected to be their champion came in third. Thus proving that the cup was fallible.

Although for Harry the most frightening thought was the realization that the cup didn’t care who put your name in. It was one of the reasons that the tournament had been abandoned. It had become a habit to place a rival’s name in the cup. Several assassinations had been carried out in that way. Including the last tournament in which all three champions died. All three had been entered by their parents political rivals. This worried Harry, because he knew that there were several students in the school whose parents would love to see him dead.

So it was that on the day that Durmstrang and Beauxbatons were due to arrive that Harry was fluctuating between excitement at the prospect of meeting new people, and dread at the possibility of seeing his name come out for Hogwarts. They still did not know what method was being used to choose the names after all.

Beauxbatons arrived by flying carriage, pulled by abraxan horses, which were beautiful, if a bit on the large side. While Durmstrang arrived by boat, which apparently could travel by whirlpool, which gave Harry some ideas to think about later.

The most surprising thing about their arrival was the discovery that one of the Durmstrang students was Viktor Krum, who along with his cousin Kurt Vone, approached Harry at the entrance. “Harry, tis good to see you again.” Viktor said, offering his hand.

“It’s good to see you too Viktor, Kurt.” Harry replied in Bulgarian shaking both boys hands.  
There was a murmur through the surrounding students as word began to travel that Harry already knew the international quidditch star.

“Perhaps ve can talk more later.” Viktor said, glancing around at the crowd. “Vhen there is more privacy, yes?”

“Sure, Viktor, I’d like that.” Harry replied.

In the Great Hall, Madam Maxime, the headmistress of Beauxbatons, who was as tall as Hagrid, led her students to join the Ravenclaw table. While Igor Karkaroff, headmaster of Durmstrang, led his students to join the Slytherin table. Malfoy made a big show of inviting Viktor to join him.

Harry would have paid that some attention, except he was too busy meeting the Beauxbatons students.

There were three seated close enough for him to greet properly and begin chatting with. Annabelle Delaciel, Jean Luc Lespace, and Viridian Alsace. Who were friends, they travelled together to support one another. They explained that the betting pool among the Beauxbatons students was leaning in favor of Fleaur Delacour who was seated at the far end of the table from Harry. He agreed that she was beautiful, but he couldn’t discern anything else about her from that far away.

In turn he and Luna told them about the betting pool around Hogwarts. The Slytherins were convinced that Alfred Johansen one of their seventh years would be the Hogwarts Champion. While the Gryffindors were betting on Angelina Johnson, even if the twins were sure they would figure out a way to get in. Ravenclaw had no one entering, they were just looking forward to the show, and possibly research ideas. And Hufflepuff were loudly proclaiming that the only possible Champion was Cedric Diggory, their seeker, and if the girls were to be believed, a very handsome young man.

When asked if he was bothered by not being able to compete himself, Harry explained about his discovery of the tournament having been used for assassination in the past. That he was worried someone would enter him against his will. He had no desire to take part, like the rest of his House, he was more interested in the research opportunities the tournament held.

Unfortunately the conversation was cut off when headmaster Dumbledore rose to speak. “Well, now that we are all fed and watered, it is time to speak briefly about the tournament. First, the impartial judge responsible for the choosing of the Champions. Mr. Filch, the casket if you please.” Filch hauled forward a wooden crate, which he settled on a pedestal next to Dumbledore. A tap of the old man’s wand caused the box to fall open and reveal a large wooden cup. The Goblet would have been entirely unremarkable except that it was filled with dancing blue fire. Harry groaned and dropped his head to the table. Unaware of Harry’s reaction, Dumbledore continued. “The Goblet of Fire shall be our impartial judge. Anyone who wishes to enter their name must simply write it down along with their school and enter it into the Goblet, which will be placed in the entrance hall. You will have twenty four hours to enter your name. In order to discourage our younger students, I will be drawing an age line around the Goblet in order to prevent anyone under the age of seventeen from attempting to enter themselves. Before I release you however, I must urge you, most strenuously, to consider, that the entering of ones name into the Goblet is an agreement to a magically binding contract. If your name is chosen then you will be obliged to compete. Once the Champions are chosen there can be no backing out. Thus, I implore you to be certain that you are prepared to risk everything before entering you name.” For a moment it looked like he might say more, but he nodded and returned to his seat.

The twins grabbed Harry as they were leaving the Hall. “Harry, we had a thought. Hermione won’t tell us her opinion, but what do you think about having someone else enter us to get past the age line?” George said as they dragged him into an empty room.

Fred picked up a different line of thought before Harry could answer though. “I was thinking an aging potion.” He said, glaring at his twin.

Pointing at Fred, Harry replied. “That would be fun to watch, make sure I’m there when you try it. I rather doubt that a potion would be able to fool Dumbledore’s magic.” Pointing to George he continued. “Getting someone of age to enter you should work. That damn Goblet doesn’t care who drops the name in. And anyone of age can cross the age line, so that should work.”

“Yes, told you.” George cried, poking Fred.

“It would be fun though, to try the age line.” Fred returned, eyeing Harry. “And might throw off suspicion a bit. What do you say George?”

“Oh, alright, let’s see what Dumbles has in mind.”

Smiling they turned to Harry and after a quick hug, together called “Night Harry, we gotta get to work.” And rushed from the room. Shaking his head, Harry headed towards Ravenclaw tower and his bed.


	54. Chapter 54

Classes seemed to drag by the following day as the students excitement grew. Dozens of individuals were sighted placing their names in the Goblet, including Cedric Diggory of Hufflepuff and Mclaggen of Gryffindor. Even the twins were boasting that they had entered overnight when no one was watching. Meanwhile, Ron Weasley was heard complaining loudly that he couldn’t find anyone willing to put his name in, it seemed no one was willing to risk the wrath of Molly Weasley for endangering her youngest son.

Eventually though, classes were finished, and the time for the Choosing feast came. Once again all three schools were gathered together in the Great Hall. Even Harry decided to attend the Halloween feast for a change. As it was also the night of the Choosing for the tournament he felt it would be a good idea not to skip this year. Although the feast was less compelling than last nights had been, perhaps due to having a feast two nights in a row, the second came too soon for the participants to have built up much of an appetite. Or perhaps the excitement and anticipation of the Choosing had distracted everyone from their stomachs.

Regardless of the cause, the meal seemed to drag by at a snail's pace. Until at last, the remains of the meal were whisked away by the house elves, and Dumbledore rose from his seat at the High Table.

“Well, now that we are all fed and watered. I have a few words to share before the Choosing begins. I suspect that the goblet needs approximately one more minute, so I hope that you will not mind waiting for a short time more.” The beard twitched in what Harry was sure was a smile as he looked around the hall. “I wish to remind you all that the purpose of this tournament is to bring us all closer together. To remind all of us here that the similarities between us are greater than the differences. Regardless of the tasks, and the rewards for our Champions, the goal of the tournament is to foster relationships between all of you, for the good of all our lands. I therefore encourage you all to reach beyond the boundaries of your school and build friendships. When the Champions are called, I ask that they come up here, and through that door,” he pointed to a small door at the side of the Head Table, “where there is a small chamber for the Champions and their Headmasters to speak briefly.”

There was a burst of bright red flames from the Goblet and Dumbledore turned towards the artifact. “Ah, it seems that it is time.” He said just loudly enough to be heard thanks to the hush which had fallen across the gathered students. A moment later with a bright flash of flames a single piece of parchment was thrown from the Goblet into the air. With a deft reach of his arm, Dumbledore plucked the parchment form the air. Bringing the parchment up to his eyes he carefully read off. “The Champion for Durmstrang will be, Viktor Krum.”

“Curious.” Luna said softly.

“Oh?” Harry shot her a wry look.

“Krum seems a rather obvious choice. I would have thought the Goblet would surprise everyone by selecting someone else. Perhaps it’s saving the surprise for something else.”

“Personally, I’m hoping for a lack of big surprises. Those usually include me somehow, and I really don’t want to waste any of my time trying to survive a tournament.” Harry returned with a half smile.

Another flash of bright flames cut off Luna’s response as a second piece of parchment arched into the air above Dumbledore. Again he plucked the fluttering parchment before it could fall and read off. “The Champion for Beauxbatons shall be, Miss Fleur Delacouer.”

Down the end of the Ravenclaw table, where the Beauxbatons students were seated, rose a very lovely girl. Her silver blonde hair swayed gently as she strode towards the High Table.

“They don’t seem pleased with their choice of Champion.” Luna smiled.

Glancing over at the other Beauxbatons students, Harry saw that she was correct. While many of the boys were cheering and applauding, most of them, and all of the girls, were either sobbing or cursing, quietly in both cases. “I guess their upset that they weren’t chosen.” He whispered back to Luna.

“Hmm.” She smiled dreamily back. Harry had the impression she was keeping a thought to herself for a change, but then it was hard to tell exactly what Luna was thinking, even when she was being open.

He cast about for a moment, thinking of some way to reply. Before he found a fitting thought though, the flames leapt up once more and the final name came out. Dumbledore once more reached out a deft hand and snatched the parchment before it could fall. “The Champion for Hogwarts is,” he paused and looked around the Hall with one eybrow raised, “Cedric Diggory.” There was a roar from the Hufflepuff table where a dark haired boy was being pushed to his feet and shoved towards the small exit through which the other two Champions had been sent. After a moment of hesitation the boy straightened and holding his head high moved purposely towards the professors.

With a broad smile, Dumbledore turned back to the waiting crowd of students. “Well, that is our three Champions Chosen. I do hope that the rest of you enjoy the tasks which will be set before them. And join your fellows in cheering our Champions on. By supporting them in this way you will contribute in a very real.” But he was cut off by another bright gout of flame from the Goblet. A bit of parchment once more fluttered in the air in front of the aged headmaster. Once more he reached out and deftly plucked the parchment from the air. Opening the parchment he read out, in his most solemn voice. “Harry Potter.”

All around the Hall voices whispered to each other, but Harry could only hear a vague murmur. The question of who, who would have done this? Thundered through his mind. He had told the Alliance of course, and while it was tempting to wonder if one of them had done it, the information was available in the library, not even in the restricted section, so it wasn’t like that was the only way it could have been done. Plus there were far more likely suspects around. One of the older death eater kids could have done it on their parents orders. Malfoy would certainly want to do something to him. It was even possible that Dumbledore might have put his name in the Goblet in some sort of attempt to increase his fame, or as a way to “train” him somehow. Though how that would work Harry couldn’t think of.

“Harry Potter.” Dumbledore called again, and Harry finally noticed Luna trying to push him to his feet.

“Go on Harry, we’ll figure out who put your name in later. Maybe you can even find out something from the teachers.” She was saying.

“Right, sorry.” He responded shaking his head to release the thoughts that had kept him rooted to his seat. “Right going now. See you in a bit Luna.” And finally he rose and strode down the long table to the little side room where the first years waited for the Sorting ceremony to begin.

The three people already in the room turned as he entered. Fleur blinked and spoke with a thick accent. “Do zay want us back in ze hall?”

Harry smiled thinly at the three. “Not yet Fleur, my name came out as well. Though headmaster Dumbledore did not say which school I’m meant to represent. I’ll have to ask him about that.”

Before anyone else could speak the door opened again. Bagman, Crouch, Maxime, Karkaroff, Dumbledore, Flitwick, Moody, and for some reason Snape entered the room.

“Madam Maxime, ees it true?” Fleur spoke before anyone else could. “Zat zis little boy is to compete?” She asked pointing at Harry.

“Indeed.” Karkaroff stated gruffly. “And how did this happen Dumbledore? After all of our talks and negotiations, I little expected something of this nature to occur.”

“Yes,” Maxime spoke pertly, which seemed out of place given her size, “I don’t recall anywhere in the rules stating that the hosting school gets two Champions.”

“My dear Madam Maxime, this is highly unusual I agree. But now his names come out, I don’t think there can be any backing out at this point. It’s like Dumbledore said, binding magical contract and all that.” Bagman said cheerily, looking as though Christmas had come early.

“That’s right,” came Moody’s gruff voice from the corner where he was surveying the group. “He’s got to compete, they’ve all got to compete. Funny we haven’t heard from him though. What have you got to say for yourself boy?”

As they all turned to look at him, Harry cocked an eyebrow. “Which school am I meant to represent headmaster?”

Blinking several people turned to Dumbledore, Snape however sneered at Harry. “What Potter, you don’t know which school you attend?”

“Only one name is chosen per school, Professor. But the Goblet isn’t limited to only three. That’s in almost every book written about the tournament. And part of the reason the thing was disbanded was due to the habit of people entering their political rivals as a means of attempted assassination. Which school I was entered under might give us a clue as to who put my name in.”

Snape snorted. “As if any one will believe that you didn’t put your own name in.”

“Wow, thank you professor Snape. I wasn’t aware that you thought so highly of me. I don’t think I would be able to trick the headmaster’s age line, but it’s heartening to hear that you do.”

Snape sneered again. “Obviously you had some older student do it for you.”

“Does it really matter Harry?” Dumbledore asked with a gentle smile. “I know it seems harsh but I really do have to ask. Did you put your name in the Goblet Harry?”

Blinking Harry turned to the elderly headmaster. “No sir.”

“Did you perhaps ask an older student to do so for you?”

“Again, no sir, I did not.”

“Very well then, Mr. Crouch, as the Ministry representative you have the final say. What say you on the question of Harry’s involvement?”

Crouch looked around the room briefly before responding. “As previously stated, the Goblet enacts a magically binding contract. In this case one which renders those who refuse to participate magicless, leaving them no more than squibs. Regardless of individual interests, no one has the right to force such on another, especially not one so young as Mister Potter. We therefore are obliged to have him in the tournament. Though I would recommend that he be listed as a Champion for whatever school was written on his parchment.”

All eyes turned to Dumbledore. “Very well, Harry has been entered as the Champion for the Phoenix Institute.”

“The Phoenix Institute? Where is that?” Harry asked.

“It is a non-existent school Harry. Clearly chosen so that you were the only candidate.” Dumbledore responded slowly.

“Proof, that he entered himself.” Karkaroff yelled.

“That is irrelevant, Karkaroff. Regardless of who entered whom, these are the Champions. And they will compete, whether we like it or not.” Crouch delivered his verbal backhand in a solemn tone. “Now, unless there is something of importance to discuss, I recommend that we continue with the evening’s business.” A slow look around the room showed that no one wanted to continue the argument. “Good, then on with the important business. The first task of the tournament will be held on November 26th at three o’clock in the afternoon. We won’t be telling you anything about it, as one of the traits the tasks are meant to test, is your ability to cope with danger, and how quickly you think on your feet. Good luck to you all.” And he turned and left the room before anyone could respond.

There was a smattering of conversation, but Harry wasn’t interested in any of it. Struggling to hold his head up, he left the room and wanting to be alone for a bit, headed for the lab on the seventh floor.

When he finally returned to the Ravenclaw common room he was surprised to see the remains of what appeared to be a massive party.

At breakfast the next morning he was accosted by the twins who dragged him off to an empty classroom. When Harry started to open his mouth George held up a hand. He and Fred raised their wands and cast several privacy charms before they turned to address their younger friend.  
“Harry, you remember the list of death eaters Hermione put together last year for the Early meetings of the Alliance?”

Blinking slowly, Harry replied. “Yes, why?”

“Look at this.” George laid the Marauders map on a desk and pointed to a spot on it.

As Harry walked over to look at what George was pointing to, Fred continued speaking. “Last night we wanted to chat with you about the tournament. So we veered off and waited. We pulled out the map to watch for when you left. But we saw this and got sidetracked discussing the possibilities.” As he finished talking he too pointed to the map.

They were pointing to the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom. Looking closer he saw that Barty Crouch and Alastor Moody were both there. Moody seemed to be standing in a corner, while Crouch was pacing.

“Ok, so what am I supposed to be seeing?” Harry asked.

“At the moment, not much. But last night there were two Crouch’s in the room with you, and Mad-Eye was in the classroom.” The two looked at Harry expectantly, clearly waiting for him to put it together. It didn’t take long.

“Polyjuice. Someone is impersonating Moody, someone who happens to have the same name as the coordinator for the tournament.”

“And the only person who shares that name, that we know of.” Fred began.

Pulling out a copy of Hermione’s list, George continued, pointing to a name. “Is Crouch junior.”

“So we have a death eater in the school again. This time impersonating a teacher, supposedly a long time friend of Dumbledore.”

“Yeah, not sure how he got that past the headmaster.” Fred said, scratching his head.

“He must be one hell of a good actor.” George added.

“Or Dumbles let him get through. He does seem to be willing to allow threats to the students if they serve his goals somehow. Although that seems a bit extreme. Maybe he’s just losing his touch.”

“Well, yeah, I suppose that’s possible too.” Fred said sceptically.

Sensing a possible argument George changed the subject a little. “Either way, we need to decide what we’re going to do about the imposter.”

“I vote we wait till tonight and grab him in his sleep.” Harry offered.

“I like that plan, but should we do it by ourselves? Or should we get some of the others involved?” George asked.

“I vote we get a few of the others in on it. That way we have back up.” Fred voted.

“Okay, who do we get in on the plan then? And when do we do it?”

“Neville would be good. He’s good for keeping an eye out.” Fred winked at his brother, making Hary wonder what they had been getting up to.

“Susan and Hannah are both good in a fight.” George stated.

“We should probably get the professors in for the questioning too.” Harry said quietly. “But that’s after the action is done. They're not very good at that part.”

“Yeah, they like to talk too much.” George laughed.

“Maybe we should just ask for volunteers at the meeting this evening.” Fred mentioned. “After all, we might find some unrecognized talent.”

“And we don’t want to plan for someone to be involved only to have them decline.” George added.

“Good call.” Harry agreed. “We should keep it small though, we don’t want to flood the halls. Especially after hours.”

“Agreed.” Fred smiled. “No more than ten, that’ll be enough to cover all the hallways we’ll need to pass through.”

“Too bad we don’t have a way to talk to each other from across the castle.” George said with a far off look.

“That’s a good idea, brother mine.” Fred responded, with a glint. “We’ll have to look into that. Later though.”

“Yeah, no time to get that ready for tonight.” George smiled at his brother.

“Alright, class then. I’ll see you two after classes.” Harry gave them a quick one armed hug each before they took down the privacy spells and headed out.

Once classes were over for the day Harry headed down to the Chamber, hoping to spend time on the prison project before everyone else showed up. He was partly in luck as only Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil had arrived ahead of him. They were engrossed in something in the divination section of the Chamber though, so Harry was able to pass by and settle in to work on the base for the prison in which they would contain the death eaters and their supporters.

He had an hour before people started showing up en masse, and he used the time well. Getting the design finished and even beginning the process of carving the rune work which would serve as the anchor for a series of charms intended to maintain the effects of the shrinking solution they would use on the occupants of the prison.

However, with so many of the Alliance gathering he had to set the work aside and get to socializing. There was a question that everyone was going to want the answer to.

Sure enough, shortly after the last of the straggling students arrived there was a great clamour around the Chamber, as many voices rumbled, asking how Harry had gotten into the tournament.

Taking the small stage and calling for quiet, Harry explained what had been said in the small room after the choosing ceremony. There were a great many whoops when it became clear that Harry was going to compete. And just as many boo’s when they understood that he had not entered himself.

At the end of his explanation, Harry asked for the volunteers they would need for the capture of Crouch later in the evening. In a less than surprising move, three dozen hands went up. “As this mission is being run by the twins I’ll have you go to them. We only need ten, but I’ll let them decide on who.” He told them before leaving the stage.

The meeting lasted for only two hours, yet it felt much longer due to three important events. The first was when Daphne Greengrass approached Harry with a smile.

“I’m sorry you got entered Harry, but I wanted to let you know that after I told some of the older Slytherins what you had mentioned about entering other people, they arranged for Montague to be entered.” She explained, only just managing to hold in a giggle. “Too bad he wasn’t chosen.”

“Poor guy.” Harry responded. “Still, at least he was entered for Hogwarts. Whoever entered me apparently wanted it so bad that they entered me under a different school”

Daphne’s smile fell at that. “Yeah, and that sucks. Now you’re in an even worse position than I am.”

Harry cocked his head to one side in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“Oh, umm. I didn’t really mean to mention that. Oh well, I guess it wouldn’t hurt to tell you. How much do you know about how purebloods maintain their bloodlines?”

“Not much really, beyond that their rather picky.”

“That’s putting it mildly. Have you heard of marriage contracts?”

“No, although based on what the Goblet did to me. I’m guessing they aren’t fun.”

“Well, nearly all the pureblood families use them. Most are drawn up before the kids are even born, though some families wait until we’re older. My parents have been holding the threat of a contract over my head since I was six. The Malfoy’s have been trying to get one for either me or my sister for a couple of years now. Dad hasn’t taken their offers yet, but he says if I don’t find a proper match soon, he might have to.”

“Wow, that, really, wow.” The green eyed wizard was rather stunned at that pronouncement. That a man would consider essentially selling his daughter. “If you need any help, I’m happy to offer. Though I have no idea what I could do.”

Daphne offered a wan smile. “Thanks Harry, there isn’t much that anyone can do right now. I spent the last couple of years researching exactly what can be done with magical contracts. Dad used to remind me regularly that with the right wording, a contract can take your magic away. I started looking deeper when I heard about Andromeda Tonks nee Black. She abandoned her contract with Lucius Malfoy in favor of her husband. But she still has her magic, which at first I took to mean that wasn’t a penalty under her contract. Except the Black family isn’t known for being forgiving. It turns out only certain kinds of contracts can actually take your magic. And the kinds of contracts used for betrothals are even more limited. The most that can be done is to take away your connection to the family.”

“Which can be rough,” Harry said, nodding, “but isn’t normally life threatening.”

“Exactly, like I said, worse position than I’m in. Snape explained to Slytherin that the contract with the Goblet can take your magic, completely.”

“Yeah, and it doesn’t matter that I didn’t enter myself. The Goblet doesn’t care about that. It only cares that the Champions compete. It’s one of the reasons that the tasks have to be life threatening. If the goblet deems the challenge to be too easy it can declare the tournament false and simply strip the magic from all the champions.”

Daphne went a little green. “And there’s no way out of it?”

“None that any of the books I’ve read have mentioned. One did say that several attempts had been made, but all ended in failure. It’s one of the reasons the tournament was ended.”

“So what do you have to do to fulfill the contract?”

“Compete.” At the look of incredulity on Daphne’s face Harry elaborated. “It sounds a lot simpler than it is. The goblet is the judge of whether you’ve tried hard enough to satisfy its requirements. And it’s rather harsh. Basically if you’re still alive and conscious, you can keep trying, no matter how difficult you find the task. That’s why so many died in previous tournaments. They were set a task that was beyond their capability, but the only way they could keep their magic was to keep trying until they were actually incapable of further attempt. Either by being knocked out for several hours, or dead.”

“That’s, sweet merciful Merlin. What are they having you do?”

“Don’t know yet. They said they won’t tell us what the first task is, just when. Apparently they want to test our nerve, and ability to think on our feet.”

The conversation fell to small talk for a minute after that as neither could think of anything further and they drifted to other discussions.

The second big excitement of the evening was when Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown took the stage and called for attention.

Turning to watch, Harry was quickly enthralled by their presentation.

“Hey everyone.” Lavender began. “You probably all remember the lecture we got last year about divination. But just in case, I’m going to give you the high points. Parv?” She nodded at Parvati who tapped the projector. An image of the divination text book appeared behind Lavender. “This is the standard divination text book, which has been used by every student to take the course for the last eighty years.” A new image appeared and she continued. “This is a classic non-magical text which can be found in almost any muggle bookstore.” A third image came up, this one of the chapter titles of both books, side by side. “As you can see the two are nearly identical. In short, Hogwarts has been teaching muggle fortune telling in place of divination for at least, close to, the last century. Now as many of you know, Parvati and I really love the art of divination. So we didn’t really take too well to the idea that it wasn’t being taught correctly. However, over the summer we did some research. And between the various libraries we were able to explore, we managed to find a few proper divination spells. Speaking of which, we owe Hermione an apology.”

Parvati rushed forward to join Lavender on the stage. “Yes we do, thanks for the warning Lav.” She said to her friend.

The two turned towards where Hermione was chatting with several Ravenclaws, and spoke together. “We’re sorry we yelled at you Hermione. Thank you for pointing us to the information we needed.” After a moment Hermione nodded and Lavender continued.

“So, like I said we found a few real divination spells, all of which have been copied out and can now been learned over in the divination section of the Chamber.” She pointed to said section. “There is one spell in particular though that I want to share with you all right now. This spell reveals something about the recent past, something that is important to the casters future. The trick to it is that you have to be looking for something pertaining to an event. So you could use it to see something pertaining to a wedding that occurred recently that will have an effect on you. It’s up to you to figure out exactly what it means though.”

Parvati stepped up to continue the presentation, as Lavender went to the projector. “So, last night we used that spell. Looking for clues about Harry’s placement in the tournament.” There was a sudden hush as every head in the room turned to give the stage their full attention. “This is what we saw.” Parvati stepped to the side as a scene began to play across the stage wall.  
An old man crept up a set of slightly decrepit looking stairs. Harry recognized, both the Riddle manor house, and the old caretaker he and Bill had met almost two years ago it felt like. Dust settled gently in the dark hallway as he slowly made his way towards a door with a flickering light beyond. There were two voices coming from beyond the door.

The first a high cold voice, which seemed somehow small and weak. “Wormtail, you must milk Nagini when she returns. I will need feeding in the night.”

The second, apparently belonging to someone named Wormtail, was rapid, slightly strangled, and seemed frightened. “Y, yes, m, master. Of course.”

“You are worried Wormtail. You needn’t be. Soon we shall leave this place. Once the quidditch world cup is over we shall free my true servant, and then our plan can begin in truth.”

“Yes Master, but, but why the boy master?”

“You feel I should not use the boy?”

“Not out of concern for him master. It is simply that the thing can be done so much easier, so much more swiftly if we were to use another.”

“That is true, I could use another. But Harry Potter has defied me, and that I can not let stand. No I will use him, and in so doing I will prove beyond doubt that I am the stronger. And you, Wormtail, will find the courage to play your part. I will not tolerate failure.”

“Yes master, I understand master.”

The old man was now looking rather frightened himself, and seemed to be debating whether he should leave. However, his decision was taken as a large snake slithered by flicking its tongue against the man’s ankles. As it passed by and entered the room the man was frozen, trembling slightly in clear terror.

To Harry’s ears the hissing of the snake carried a clear message. “Master,” it called as it slithered into the doorway. “There is an old muggle out here listening to you. It tastes of fear, may I eat it?”

And a hissing response from the first voice came. “Ah Nagini, have you enjoyed your explorations? An old man you say, yes dearest, you may eat him, in a moment though. It may be useful to talk with him first.” Then the voice shifted back to the normal patterns of english. “Wormtail, Nagini tells me there is an old muggle man outside the room, listening to every word we say. Invite him in won’t you?”

A few footsteps and the door slowly creaked open. An overweight, middle-aged man stooped in the wan light of a fire, looking at the old man. He raised his hand which held a dark length of wood and gestured for the old man to come in. Almost mechanically the old man moved forward.

Inside the room was warm, but had clearly seen better days. The wallpaper was peeling, the curtains moth eaten. In front of the hearth a large wing back chair sat facing the fire, the great snake coiled at its feet.

The old man opened his mouth, the look on his face fairly screaming that he was unsure of what he would say. Before the first sound could exit his lips however, the high, cold voice came from the far side of the chair.

“Silence muggle. Lord Voldemort does not require you to speak. You are the caretaker. Tell me muggle, do you like what I have done with the place?”

“Not at all.” The old man replied. “Yer trespassin’ you are. And I don’t much care for your manners, my lord.” He said, a mocking tone to his voice. Why don’t you turn round a face me then, eh?”

“Face you? I suppose I can do that. Wormtail, turn me round.”

The small balding, rat faced man, moved slowly to the chair. He huffed as he struggled to turn the seat, but he managed. Seated on the cushion was a tiny, hairless thing, about the size of a baby, except that this thing looked nothing like a human child. It had two gaping slits for nostrils, and its eyes were a bright fiery crimson. Where the ears would be on a normal babe there were instead two divets, set into a pair of lumps. The lips were stretched tight across the mouth, and were thinner than even Mcgonagalls at her angriest. Several people in the watching crowd screamed. The old man seemed to melt into himself as the thing raised one tiny arm, a bone white wand clutched in its fist. “Avada Kedavra.” It cried and a jet of bright green light shot out of the wand towards the old man. As the light struck the man the scene went dark.

Lavender returned to the stage. We’re not entirely sure what this means, but we’re pretty sure it’s not good.” She said quietly. After a moment of silence the gathered students turned to Harry.  
Nodding to himself, Harry walked forward and stepped onto the stage with the two worried looking girls. Looking out on the gathered junior Alliance he spoke. “It would seem that our foe has returned, though apparently not in his proper body. I’m going to guess that whatever he has planned will be intended to achieve getting him that body. We should all be on the watch for anything out of the ordinary. I think we can all guess who put my name in for the tournament now, it’s likely that whatever plan he has in mind, will somehow center around that. I’ll ask that those of you with parents or other family members in the Alliance, please let them know, quietly, what we have learned here tonight. Susan, if you can arrange to get your aunt here, perhaps as a spectator for the first event to hide her intent, it’s past time we convince her to join us if we can.”

Susan called out from somewhere in the crowd. “I’ll see what I can do Harry.”

“Thanks.” Once again the crowd fell to chatting in groups though many came up to pat Harry on the back, or to offer encouragement. Eventually though, most of the students had left for their dorms, and only those who would be taking part in tonight's mission remained.


	55. Chapter 55

“Are we ready to get this show on the road?” Fred asked as the volunteers began to gather.

“I think we should explain what we are doing before we begin Fred.” Hermione shot him a half glare.

“Yes what exactly are we doing?” Asked Sally Perks.

“Okay, okay.” Fred held up his hands in placation. “Alright so here’s the plan.” It took a few minutes to lay out the plan, which was lengthened immensely by a few of the volunteers asking for clarification on various points. Then it was drawn out further by the twins attempting to recruit people for a prank. Harry was fairly sure it was the prank they had been arguing about all year.

Eventually though, everything had been discussed the plan was ready to be set in motion, and they were headed up to the Defence hall.

“So, Harry-kins,” George began in a wheedling tone.

“No.” Harry responded before he could continue.

“Now Harry.” Fred started.

“No.” Harry cut him off as well.

“You know, if you let them ask, maybe they’ll get it out of their systems and settle down.” Hermione offered.

“Do you know what they have been planning?” Harry asked.

“Well no.”

“Exactly, and you don’t want to. Forget possible expulsion for pranking a teacher. If they do what they planned I’ll need to be obliviated.” Harry shot her a quelling look as she opened her mouth, apparently to protest. “Trust me Hermione, you don’t want to know. It’s that bad.”

“He’s right you know.” Luna whispered in a softer version of her usually dreamy tone. “I overheard a part of their idea, and had to ask daddy for a flutterby bath. It helps remove tainted thoughts.”

Hermione had a curious expression for several moments as they continued down the hall. The twins meanwhile were several steps ahead conferring quietly.

“The worst part is, I think they're planning to do it themselves anyway.” Harry said, gesturing to the pair, who were whispering frantically to each other.

“Do we need to stop them?” Hermione asked, fingering her wand.

Laying a hand on Hermione’s arm, Luna responded. “No, let them have their fun. At least we’ll be able to say we weren’t involved when they get detention for the rest of the year.”

The conversation was abruptly cut off as they reached the Defence hallway.

“We’re here.” George whispered, returning to the others. “Everyone spread out to your places. Harry-kins, do your thing.”

The twins took up their positions on either side of the door as Harry slipped on his invisibility cloak.

Hefting the paintball gun from his bag and settling into a slightly crouched position facing the door, he grunted the signal. Fred pointed his wand and the door popped open. After a moment of observation to confirm that the classroom was empty and Harry moved in cautiously. A few glances around confirmed that they hadn’t set off any alarms. “Clear.” He stage whispered back into the hall and the twins moved in to the room.

“Okay, next door.” Fred whispered, raising his wand and beginning the long detection chain they had mastered last year in the room of lost things. Beside him George was doing the same. After several long seconds they nodded to each other and Fred whispered again. “A strong Colloportus, and an alarm charm. Thirty seconds.” He and George got to work, and sure enough, thirty seconds later they were indicating that the door was clear.

Levelling the paintball gun at the door and lowering his mask into place, Harry grunted the signal to go. Once again, Fred pointed his wand and the door opened. This time though, Harry squeezed gently on the trigger of the paintball gun.

One, two, three, soft pops sent three small glass balls flying into the room beyond. Inside the small room lying on soft four poster bed, was a man none of them had seen before. He came to as the door flew open, but only just managed to get his wand in hand before the first ball struck the post next to him. As the cloud of grey mist began to expand the man's eyes widened. The second ball struck the headboard behind him, and the third took him in the chest. The clouds quickly enveloped the man and a moment later he fell over, unconscious.

The trip back to the Chamber couldn’t have been simpler. The twins and Harry donned their wall walking boots, levitated the man to the ceiling, and checked with their lookouts as they made their way back. By lucky chance, the route they had chosen to take was free of patrolling teachers, and so they made it back down to the Chamber with minimal fuss. There were a few tense moments when they came to doorways that had to be maneuvered through, but as they never ran into anyone else it was only tense.

The questioning of the man revealed some interesting and frightening facts, and they resolved to repeat the incident, with more witnesses, as soon as they could.

The final piece of the plan, did not go off well however.

Harry and the twins returned to the Defence classroom to get the real Moody out of the trunk he had been hidden in. Unfortunately there were two teachers standing inside the classroom, looking around in confusion.

Professor Babbling, the runes teacher. And Professor Vector, the Arithmancy teacher.

“Should we wake the headmaster?” Professor Babbling asked.

“I suspect he will want to know.” Replied Professor Vector. “However, I am uncertain if he would prefer to be told now, or in the morning.”

“Of course it’s possible, he simply woke up and wandered down to the kitchen.” Babbling said off hand.

“Moody? He barely eats what they serve at meals. And to leave his rooms open?” Vector quirked an eyebrow.

“True, but we should check anyway, just to be sure. I’d hate to wake the headmaster only to find that the man had simply gone on a midnight stroll.”

“True, I doubt Dumbledore would be pleased to have his sleep disturbed for nothing. Let’s go then.”

The three friends barely got out of the way before the Professors left the classroom and headed off towards the lower levels of the castle.

“That was close.” George whispered as they gathered in the classroom.

“Yeah, if they hadn’t been talking so loud, or at that moment.” Fred shuddered.

“We’d definitely have walked right in on them.” Harry finished, and the three smiled.

“You’re getting the hang of twin speak Harry.” George commented, slapping the younger boy on the back.

“Soon we’ll be able to make it triple speak, and really confuse everyone.” Fred whispered while waving his arms wildly. “Now if you’d just agree to the prank.” He added with a wink.

Harry shuddered. “I need to be obliviated just from you telling me about that idea. No, I will not help with that.” The twins gave him a sad puppy look that he ignored. “Now come on, we have a Professor to find.”

With that the three spread out to search the classroom and office. In almost no time at all, George was calling the other two over. “Found it, Harry you’ve got the keys right?”

Harry did indeed have the keys, and after several tries found the right one. Moody was lying in the bottom of a ten by ten room. His hair was badly cut in several places, and both his leg and eye were missing. The poor man was also cold, and quietly whimpering in his sleep.

“Fred, check in the bedroom, see if you can find his leg and eye.” Harry said quietly. “George, give me a hand getting him out of there.” He and George raised their wands as Fred rushed off to the other room.

Moody rose slowly and gently from the trunk, and Harry quickly wrapped him in a cloak. The older man stirred and opened his one good eye. “Shh, we’re taking you to the infirmary. Stay quiet, Madam Pomfrey will be able to heal you.” Harry whispered and the man slowly nodded and closed his eye again.

Fred came back with the missing eye and leg and the three stole out of the room and down the hall, once again sticking to the ceiling.

In the infirmary they placed Moody on a bed, after which Fred and George left to return to Gryffindor tower. Harry donned his invisibility cloak and wrapped sharply on the door to Madam Pomfrey’s office until she came hurrying out. He said nothing, merely stood to the side and waited for her to notice the man lying on one of the beds. When she rushed over and began casting diagnostic charms he slipped out of the room, and made his way to his own bed.

It took two days for Susan Bones to get her Aunt to the school. Once she was in the castle however it took only ten minutes to get her, Professor Flitwick, Professor Mcgonagall, Professor Snape, and Madam Pomfrey down to the Chamber, where the man they had captured was just starting to wake as Fred and George fed him the antidote to the sleeping draft he had been fed to prevent his escape.

“Crouch Junior!” Madam Bones exclaimed when she had gotten a good look at the man. Turning to Harry she puffed up a bit. “Explain this now.” She said, looking irritated.

“It’s actually easier to have him explain it ma’am.” He responded, then gestured to the twins.  
Fred held the mans mouth open as George fed him three drops from a vial.

“What are they doing?” Madam Bones asked fingering her wand. It was clear she was not pleased with what was happening, but that she had noticed that there were several people standing around, and that she would not have much luck if she attempted to fight her way out.

“Veritaserum.” Harry replied softly. At her stern glare he continued. “Yes I know it’s illegal, however I really don’t care. It can’t be fought, and it insures accurate reporting. Only a moron would discontinue its use, or someone who wanted to hide their own guilt. Observe.” He motioned to Crouch who was just being taken by the effects of the potion.

Madam Pomfrey looked like she was having to restrain herself as Fred spoke above the general noise of the room. “Quiet everyone. Only one person speaks at a time, same as last time. You,” he pointed down at Crouch. “What is your name?”

The man's head rose slowly and in a drugged voice he responded. “Bartemius Crouch Junior.”

Nodding Fred continued. “How did you escape from Azkaban?”

“My mother was dying, as a last wish she begged my father to free me. She never believed I was guilty.” Madam Bones, Harry noticed was beginning to look sick. “They came to visit me. They gave me polyjuice, with one of my mother's hairs. My mother took polyjuice with one of my hairs. The dementors can’t see, they sensed one healthy person and one dying person enter, they sensed one healthy person, one dying person leave. They said nothing. Mother was careful to take polyjuice until the end, she didn’t last long. She was buried on the island. Father took me home, he blamed me for my mothers death. He blamed me for many things.”

Crouch fell silent and before anyone else could say anything Fred prodded him to continue with another question. “Where have you been since you left Azkaban?”

“At first in my father's home. He said he couldn’t allow me to wander freely. I wanted to return to my Master, to continue his noble work, and find a way to return him to his proper glory.” There was a small gasp from Madam Bones, and a few others who hadn’t heard this before, but Crouch continued unrelentingly. “My father dosed me with potions to keep me quiet, and placed me under the imperius curse to insure that I stayed where he wanted. The house elf, Winky, was placed in charge of my care. For years that remained my lot. Then the quidditch world cup, Winky argued that I should be allowed to attend. I loved quidditch she said, my mother didn’t want me freed to be locked up at home, she said. Eventually my father gave in and I was allowed to go. I had been fighting my fathers imperius curse, there were times when I was almost myself. It happened there in the top box. Winky has always been afraid of heights, she wasn’t watching. There was a boy in front of me, a boy with white hair, and a wand, a wand sticking out of his pocket. It had been years since I had been allowed a wand. I took it. That night the faithless, those who had abandoned my master rather than face the dementors for him, were playing games. In the middle of the excitement I was freed from my father's control. For the first time in years, I was free, and I had a wand. I decided to show those cowards what it means to be loyal. I tried to leave, but Winky did something, she bound me to her side and dragged me out into the forest. Prevented from my true goal I sent the dark mark into the sky.”

Harry heard Madam Bones whisper to herself. “So that’s how.” But before he could ask, Crouch continued.

“A moment later there was an explosion of light and I was struck with a stunning spell. When I woke again I was back in my father's house, back under the imperius curse. But I was getting stronger, I could fight the curse more easily now. And my father had sent the house elf away, without her help he had to stay home from work, to keep an eye on me. And then, and then, Peter Pettigrew our spy showed up. And in his arms, my master, in a homunculus body but still him. And together they subdued my father, and set me free.”

Once more Crouch went silent, however before Fred could prod him to continue, Madam Bones asked a question of her own. “Are you saying that, that you know who, is alive?”

“My master lives, and soon all will be made to bow before him.” Crouch intoned.

As Madam Bones was gaping Fred prodded him with the next question. “What did Voldemort want?”

“My master had a plan. A plan to restore himself to a proper body and continue his work. The plan called for me to take the place of Alastor Moody at Hogwarts, where I would place Harry Potter's name in the Goblet of Fire. Then I would carefully coach him through the tournament to victory. The final task would mark the return of my master as Harry Potter was taken to him to be used in a ritual which would return my master to a body.”

As Crouch fell silent again, there was a choking sound. Mcgonagall sounded as though she was coughing up a hairball. Madam Pomfrey had gone very pale, and Madam Bones was looking as though she had just been struck with a fish.

“You see Madam Bones. Much better to have him explain.” Harry said quietly to the gaping woman. I would have simply handed him over to you, but after last year and what happened with Sirius I don’t trust the Minister. He promised that my godfather would be given a fair trial, and then tried to have him kissed before they even left Hogwarts grounds.”

Madam Bones stared at him for a moment before something seemed to pierce her confusion. “Tried, what do you mean he tried to have Sirius kissed?”

“Sirius escaped, that’s why the dementor’s were left here. It was Pettigrew they claimed had escaped, though he did too. Sirius is fine, he ran off to another country with no extradition treaties to heal.”

“Do, do you know where he is then?” Bones slowly asked.

“I do, I’d be happy to send him a message if you like. He says you can be trusted. That you would never allow money to sway you from doing your duty.”

Looking as though she were about to cry the woman nodded stiffly. A moment later Susan was by her side hugging her aunt.

“It’s okay auntie. I’ve been trying to get you to come see him all summer.” Harry heard as Susan led the older woman off to the side of the Chamber.

“Mister Potter.” Mcgonagall said as she walked over. “Every time I think you have reached the end of your ability to surprise me, you come up with something new. How did you discover this?”

Cocking his head to one side, Harry nodded. Motioning for her to follow he walked over to one of the tables used for homework, or card games. He laid out his map and indicated the Chamber. “My dad and his friends made a map like this when they were students.” He explained, and went on to tell her about how he had learned of the Marauder’s Map, and how he had made his own.  
When he finished with his explanation the transfiguration teacher exclaimed. “Well, while this is truly an impressive bit of magic, I’m surprised you haven’t offered it to the teachers.”

Smiling, Harry answered her unspoken question. “I don’t trust the headmaster to use it wisely, and besides, I wouldn’t want to get caught out of bed anyway.”

MCgonagall gave him a stern glare. “And why pray tell, would you not trust the headmaster?”

“That’s kind of a long story, and I didn’t say I don’t trust him. I said I wouldn’t trust him to use this,” he tapped the map, “wisely.” He shot the older woman a look and continued. “Have you noticed that the headmaster smiles a lot, and offers platitudes for everything, but tends to leave all the real work for everyone else to do?” As Mcgonagall slowly nodded he continued. “Yeah me too. After some discussion with several knowledgeable adults and comparing his behavior now, to what he was like a few decades ago. We came to the conclusion that he’s gone senile. He hides it well, but the man’s loony. By his own admission, it never occurred to him to check up on a child he had placed with people he knew would hate the child. He considered that leaving a cerberus in a school, with almost no preventative measures around it would be perfectly safe. Two fourteen year olds, two twelve year olds, and an eleven year old solved the heir of Slytherin problem before he could, and he had more time to devote to the problem, as in fifty years more time. Does any of that sound like a man with all his faculties running properly?”

Looking rather put out, Mcgonagall replied. “I see your point Mister Potter. Though I find the thought of Albus Dumbledore senile to be, forgive me, rather frightening. Especially if we may soon have to deal with a returned he who must not be named. Albus was the only one he was ever afraid of.”

“I kind of doubt that Professor.” Harry said off handedly. Then seeing the look of incredulity on his teachers face he quickly added. “Not that he was afraid of the headmaster, but that the headmaster was the only one he was afraid of. If he wasn’t afraid, why did he try to kill a baby over a prophecy?” He gestured to himself as he spoke. “Why try to kill me for the last few years? And for that matter, why try to scare everyone into doing what he wants? He’s afraid of everyone, because he knows that if we stand against him, he loses by default. The only people who will follow him willingly are those who are already too insane to see through his lies. Everyone else has to be forced, and presumably he knows that sooner or later, someone will get sick of how he treats people and kill him.”

“Is that what you intend Mister Potter? To simply kill him? And perhaps those who follow him?”

Blanching, Harry continued his explanation. “No professor, we aren’t going to kill anyone.” Pulling a notebook from his bag he showed her the plans for their prison. “We’re going to give them what they want. A society completely free from any muggle influence, away from everyone who wants to be more inclusive. They will be free to live their lives the way they want to, and so will we. I’m not sure about moldy farts, I don’t think it would be kind to put him in here. But I don’t know for sure what else we can do yet, other than build a seperate prison, and this one is going to take a lot of work.”

Several minutes were lost as Mcgonagall asked question after question about the prison and how it would be built. During which the older woman seemed to be growing more and more impressed.

Eventually she seemed to reach the end of whatever list of questions she had in her head and graced the teen with a rare smile. “Well, Mister Potter, it seems that you have a good handle on your plans. And what’s more, your plans, while grandiose, seem like they will work well. Certainly the only argument I can think of against them is the difficulty involved in building your prison.” She smirked a bit at the end, showing that she agreed that it could hardly be called a prison, despite there not being any other way to describe it accurately. “I am truly impressed. Twenty points to Ravenclaw, and I expect that if it is finished in time. You would be able to present this,” she pointed to the plans, “to the testing board for your O.W.L.’s as extra credit. As would anyone else involved with the work.”

“Thank you Professor.” Harry gave her a slow nod, almost a short bow.

“Now, I have some grading to get to, and I would imagine you have some homework to be getting to. So, best to be getting to that. Good evening Potter.” Mcgonagall rose and offered her hand, which Harry took briefly in a show of respect.

“Good evening Professor Mcgonagall, good luck with the grading.” He smiled. He swore he heard a quiet snort as she walked away.

For the next few days, wild rumours ran through the halls of Hogwarts. While most of the junior Alliance members knew what had happened, the majority of the staff and students were in the dark. It quickly became common knowledge that Professor Moody was in the hospital wing, however there were a dozen stories about why.

Harry overheard one third year Hufflepuff expounding on how Moody had been knocked out during their last class. A fifth year Ravenclaw was heard explaining that one of his old enemies had finally caught up with him, which was surprisingly close to accurate, if a little light on detail. A first year Gryffindor was heard telling his year mates that his brother, who was a sixth year Slytherin, had told him that Moody had slipped on a wet floor because Filch was mad at him.  
Harry and the twins spent the evenings swapping the stories they had heard through the day, and laughing uproariously.

A week after the drawing of the Champions, Harry and Luna were sat together at the Ravenclaw table, enjoying dinner and discussing the day’s lessons. When the doors of the Great Hall opened, and after a quick glance to see who was entering, Harry hid his face in his arms. A moment later, Luna joined him.

Through the doors, walked Hagrid. But this was a Hagrid the students had never seen before. His great bushy beard had been tamed, slicked down and parted into two braids, which had clearly been waxed, as they were slightly turned up at the ends. His hair had been thoroughly combed out and plied with some product, which made it full, shiny, and possessing of a soft bounce. His eyes, were surrounded with a dark, deep purple, which matched against their glittering black depths gave an impression of a starry sky. Where his cheeks were normally rather ruddy, and tan, they had been paled, making the eye shadow more noticeable, and the dark, crimson painted across his lips seem to gleam in the light of the candles.

For a moment he stood in the door, a long black cloak wrapped about his enormous frame. Those few who thought to look around the room could be forgiven for failing to notice that Harry, Luna, and Hermione, were hiding their faces. It was difficult not to notice however, that Fred and George, were struggling to contain their laughter. Indeed. Several of the Professors, including Headmaster Karkaroff, seemed to have noticed.

Before anyone could begin to consider what was about to happen however, music began to flood the Hall. Soft at first, but quickly rising to a bursting crescendo, before leveling off at a steady volume, which allowed the listeners to appreciate it, while still hearing the song which Hagrid began to sing.

From behind one of the tapestries, Filch came slinking along the wall of the Great Hall, as the words began to flow. “Well how do you do I, see you’ve met my, faithful handyman.” The giant nodded to Filch, who was dressed oddly for the man. Normally he wore a rather hideous brown coat, over stained and wrinkled robes. Tonight though, he was garbed in a slightly tattered tail coat, and wrinkled suit. His hair had been let down, and was hanging stragglingly about his face.  
Hagrid continued the song as he strode forward towards the staff table. “He’s just a little brought down because, when you knocked, he thought you were the, candyman.” Many of the students, were looking confused, but curious. This was clearly another of the infamous musical pranks which had been performed several times last year. However several of the muggle born, and raised, could be seen following the example of Harry, Luna, and Hermione. Namely, they were hiding their faces. A few were even attempting to convince friends to hide as well, though with little luck.

His great strides carrying him swiftly down the length of the Hall, Hagrid was drawing closer to the staff table, while continuing the song. “Don’t get strung out, by the way I look. Don’t judge a book by it’s cover huh. I’m not, much of a man, by the light of day.” Harry squeezed his eye’s shut as tight as he could in anticipation of the next moment. Flinging the cloak wide before the head table, Hagrid completed the line. “But by night I’m one hell of a lover.” As he began to turn, the next line of the song on his lips, Professor’s Mcgonagall, Snape, and Flitwick, snapped their wands out. Flitwick hit the giant man with a silencing charm. Mcgonagall transfigured his clothes, so that when the students could see him properly he was covered neck to toe in an approximation of a students robes. While Snape simply stunned the poor man.  
With a soft crash, Hagrid fell to the floor. A moment later Pomfrey came bustling around the table to check on him.

“Mister’s Weasley.” Snape called across the silent Hall. “My office, now.” The sharp retort of his voice left no room for argument, and with the merest glance to their head of house, Fred and George quietly followed the bat like Professor from the Hall.

“Well, now that the evening’s entertainment is finished.” Dumbledore said as he rose from his seat. “Let us finish our meal.” 

A moment or maybe three passed in utter silence as the students attempted to understand what they had just witnessed. Harry slowly lifted his head from where he had been hiding to ask. “Is it over?” And seeing that Hagrid was being floated out of the Hall, let out a relieved sigh and turned back to his meal. Jostling Luna gently to let her know it was safe.

An hour or so later the twins informed everyone that they had received detention, every night for a week. In response to the prank. Hermione told them they deserved it. Luna proclaimed that she would never get the image out of her head, despite not having actually seen it. And Harry explained that there was a reason he had been unwilling to go along with that plan.

On the plus side, the twins temporary incarceration with Snape, and the fact that Hermione was busy with tutoring, and Luna was now off trying to scrub the memory of Hagrid dressed as Frankenfurter from The Rocky Horror Picture Show, from her mind. Meant that Harry had some free time to enact a plan he had been working on for almost a year. He was going to slip into Malfoy Manor, or rather into what used to be Potter Manor. And track down the library, and maybe a few other things.

The plan had taken months to arrange. Creating another set of miniature portals was easy enough, sneaking one into Malfoy Manor on the other hand. He had eventually arranged with Goyle to have him leave one behind on one of his visits. Next was studying the layout of the Manor. Which proved rather difficult, as he had no way of learning if any changes had been made since the Malfoy’s took it over, and the one map he had was of the original design. Which was almost two hundred years old, and the Manor had been expanded since then. He had to go through descriptions in the family journals in order to work out what changes had been made during that time, then hope that the Malfoy’s hadn’t done more than alter the decor.

However, despite those problems, he wasn’t likely to get a better opportunity than a time when all of his friends were busy. So, he gathered his supplies and did some meditation to calm his nerves, until the time he had selected for this adventure. Just after midnight, when he could be reasonably certain that the Malfoy’s would be asleep.

Soon enough it was time. Shifting down to his badger form, he reached a paw through the portal which would take him to his destination. Tapping the first expansion rune he slipped his head through the slightly enlarged opening to get a quick look at where the portal had been left. He looked out on a room full of curio cabinets, loaded with various nick nacks. It seemed the portal had been left in a little used room, which was good for his plans. Pushing through completely was a bit of a squeeze as the portal at this size was only a few hairs wider than his badger form. With a little effort though, he was through. A few glances around proved that he was still alone, and he returned to human form and slipped on the invisibility cloak. With a tap of the correct rune, the portal was shrunken back down to the size of a key ring, and placed in a pocket.

Now it was time to begin his search. First he would need to identify his location, and find the library. It took less than fifteen minutes to realize that all the work he had done in recreating a map of the manor had been useless. The Malfoy’s had rearranged so much that the place was barely recognizable. What had been the library originally, was now something like a museum, housing dozens of artifacts. It was in fact, where the portal had been left. The new library had been moved to the second floor, and was under a strong family ward. He would need a measure of blood from one of the Malfoy’s in order to gain entrance. Unless he wanted to simply tear the ward down, which would take time, time he didn’t have, and make a lot of noise. So that would have to wait.

Checking the kitchens earned his first major surprise. The elves were up and about. Two of the smallish folk were scuttling around the work areas, tall stools set near counters for them to stand on. These areas had been designed for human use, unlike the kitchens at Hogwarts, which were intended for elves. These two looked almost as badly treated as Dobby had. Harry had a moment of panic, wondering if they could see through his cloak, and then a moment of considering if he could arrange for their freedom like he had Dobby’s. He set the first thought aside after both elves had walked past him without comment or glance in his direction. The second he set aside after a minute’s thought, as he knew he wouldn’t be able to manage it without being recognized, and he wasn’t sure if he could pull off freeing the elves, and obliviating the Malfoy’s before they could call for help. That would just have to wait for another day.

The thoughts on house elves though did remind him that he needed to look into house elf magic, and the bonds they had with wizards a little more. It was possible that they could break through the defenses of their miniature prison, and that would defeat the entire purpose. The simplest method would of course be to force anyone going in to free their elves, however it was possible they would hide one or more away in the hopes of being rescued. Not to mention that would hardly prevent someone who wasn’t sent in from sending their elves to pull someone out.

After three hours of searching the main house, Harry finally had a mental map which he was sure covered everything except the library and personal rooms. It was time for the last step. He needed to see if the Potter necromancy chamber had been discovered, and if it had, if it had been plundered. The entrance was in what was now a drawing room.

The room was a bit on the small side, Harry supposed that the Malfoy’s would call it cozy. As it had originally been a bedroom for one of the younger adult family members, Harry guessed it was a good size. The entrance to the underground chamber should be near the center of the room.

A few quick detection spells, courtesy of Bill Weasley, and he found it. Opening the door took a bit of guesswork as the mechanism was not immediately obvious. Eventually he found it though, a small rune carved onto the wall next to a sconce. A tap of his wand and the floor shifted and rotated into itself, revealing a narrow staircase.

A short walk down the stairs and he entered a medium sized chamber. A bit bigger than the room above. In the accounts the family journals had of the room, it opened from the bottom of the stairs, however there was a heavy oak door fitted in place. Wondering whether this had been added since the last account in the journals, or if this was an indication that the Malfoy’s had found it, Harry slowly opened the door.

The door swung lightly on its hinges, which Harry took as a sign that it was a recent addition, or at least that it was well maintained. The sight of the Malfoy crest hanging on the far wall convinced him that it was the latter.

The room as described in the family journals, had one small set of shelves, which housed the Potter family tomes on necromancy, and a small cabinet of ritual materials. Now though, the walls were covered in shelves, which in turn were filled with books. A half dozen cabinets were arranged around the room, and looked to be bursting with materials. The only clear space was the center of the room, where a circle had been laid out for ritual work. In the journals, the last time it had been updated, the runes had been laid in copper. It seemed the Malfoy’s weren’t happy with that though, as they were now done in silver, and a ring of gold had been added both inside and outside the ring of runes. An unnecessary addition, meant to show off wealth, rather than assist any ritual work.

Harry carefully made his way around the room, making sure to look at each book spine and observe each cabinet closely. He didn’t touch anything though. While he had originally intended to clear this room out, that was when he had expected it to have remained undiscovered. With it clearly in use he didn’t dare disturb anything, and thus reveal his presence. Plus he didn’t know what most of this stuff was. He would need to go back over it all in his pensieve, which he planned to do anyway.

He would use his memory of the layout of the house to create a proper map, which when he returned he would connect to the house wards, just like the marauders map at Hogwarts. Then he would have a useful tool for navigating the place and watching for unwanted company.

He would also be able to inspect certain things more closely, and hopefully identify them before interacting with them. He might even get BIll, or Sirius involved, as they knew more about such things than he did.

With that done, it was time to leave. One last thing to do before he could though. Where to leave the portal. After a moment’s thought on the question he decided that the museum area was probably the best choice. He closed the floor back up and made his way back to where he had first entered the house. The portal returned to it’s slightly enlarged form was tucked behind a row of curios, with just enough space for him to squeeze through in badger form. A moment later a small black badger did just that. With a tap of one claw the ring was shrunk back down to it’s small size and Harry was making his way to his bed, thoroughly exhausted.


	56. Chapter 56

“‘Arry!” Hagrid called from the far side of his pumpkin patch. It was almost a week since his trip to Malfoy Manor, still another week until the first task. More importantly, it was Saturday, his usual day of meeting Hagrid for tea, and conversations about magical creatures.

While he had now read every book in the open section of the Hogwarts library, and close to half of those in the restricted section, concerning magical creatures. Yet talking with Hagrid about them still gave him more information, and often reasons to think the authors of the various books hadn’t done their research properly. Today they had planned an in depth discussion of acromantula, the oversized spiders that lived in the forbidden forest. Harry was actually looking forward to it. He had been trading with the spiders for a little over a year now, and learning more about them could only improve the relations he had built. Which would hopefully improve their trade agreement.

“Hey Hagrid. How’s the forest doing?” This had become his favorite way of greeting his giant friend. Hagrid loved the forest and all its inhabitants. So he smiled whenever anyone asked about it, and usually launched into a story of some wounded creature he had found and nursed back to health. Today though he seemed to be in a different kind of mood.

Glancing around surreptitiously he whispered. “Got yer cloak ‘Arry? There’s something I wanna show you. But you can’t be seen near there. Ya gotta be extra quiet like, see?”

Following Hagrid’s example Harry took a quick look around and pulled a corner of the invisibility cloak from a pocket to show that he did indeed have it with him. “Always Hagrid. Never know when I might need it. Lead the way, as soon as we’re out of sight of the castle, I’ll put it on.”

“Good then, let’s go take a look at them unicorns then.” The large man boomed out, clearly trying to throw off any observers.

Deciding to join in the act, Harry returned the comment. “But Hagrid, I thought we were going to visit the acromantula today?”

Hagrid looked confused for a moment, then shook his head. “Tha’s next week ‘Arry. Besides, this herd is only passing through. We won’t get another chance to see them for a while. Best to take the chance while we have it.”

As they strode off into the woods, Harry took the rare opportunity to admire Hagrid’s play at subtlety. The oversized man was usually pretty terrible at keeping secrets. To see him really trying, and in this case, actually succeeding in being circumspect, was a treat.

They walked for several minutes before Hagrid turned to look Harry in the eye. “Alright, now we’re far enough off to throw suspicion. Get yer cloak on, and stay quiet. I’ll try ter get ya as much as I can, but yer not supposed ter know what’s coming.”

Nodding slowly, Harry drew out the cloak and slipped it on. Now it looked like only Hagrid was tramping through the forest, Hagrid set off back towards the castle, but at an angle which would take them to Norbert’s nest.

When they reached the clearing where Norbert nested, Harry was surprised to see it had been expanded. He was even more surprised to see that there were now four new dragons in the clearing. Each was huddled around a group of rocks, and seemed to be guarding them. Studying each of the four in turn, Harry identified a Welsh green, a Chinese fireball, a Swedish short snout, and a Hungarian horntail.

As they approached, Harry could see several handlers moving about the clearing, dropping animal carcasses in front of the dragons, who seemed pleased at being fed.

“Morning Hagrid.” Called a voice Harry thought he recognised as they got closer. A moment later, Charlie Weasley came jogging over. “I thought you were going to be with Harry today Hagrid?” He asked, when he was close enough to talk without yelling.

Looking a little sheepish, Hagrid replied. “Ah, that’s not till later. I just wanted another look at ‘em.”

Laughing softly, Charlie smiled. “Well, I can’t argue with that.” He gave the large man a rueful look. “We’ve got the eggs counted you know. Don’t know why they wanted nesting mothers, but.” He threw up his hands.

Hagrid turned a face suffused with fear to Charlie. Sounding a little choked he said. “You don’t think, the champions won’t.” He choked a bit, swallowed loudly and continued. “They don’t actually have to fight them, do they?”

Looking equally concerned Charlie gave a little half smile. “I don’t think so no. I think, they just have to get past them. I know they lose points if any of the eggs are harmed, and it’s illegal to kill a dragon, unless it’s trying to eat you, or you have special permission for material gathering.”

The nearest dragon, which happened to be the Welsh green huffed out a breath and growled at them. Hagrid turned a beaming smile at her and replied in a similar growl.

“Blimey, I wish I could do that.” Charlie said.

“Talk to Harry.” Hagrid replied. “I don’t know how he did it, but Norbert and I talk every day.” He continued with a brilliant grin.

As Hagrid and Charlie continued their chat, Harry began to creep around the clearing to get a better look at all of the various dragons. He tried to keep the two within ear shot, so he would know when Hagrid was ready to leave. However that proved to be difficult, with all the noise made by the handlers and the dragons. While the creatures didn’t seem to be as wild as he at first expected, they were still quite noisy. What with scales sliding on stone, the occasional growled conversation between them, and the clattering of stones every time they moved. Although Harry had to agree with Hagrid on one thing. The dragons really were quite beautiful, when they weren’t trying to eat anyone.

Hagrid and Charlie made small talk for most of an hour, even drawing the other handlers in. But no further information on the task was forthcoming, and eventually Hagrid had to leave in order to make his appointment with Harry.

Once they were far enough away to avoid observation, Harry removed the cloak. While they did keep their appointment with the acromantula, most of the afternoon was spent in discussion of dragons.

Later that evening, Harry was glad that an Alliance meeting had been planned for each Saturday. He needed to talk with Cedric, to warn him of what was coming. During the general meeting he invited Cedric to a smaller, private meeting, and to bring along only those he was asking to assist him in his preparations for the tournament.

Shortly before curfew, the small group met. Harry had of course invited Fred, George, Hermione, and Luna, while Cedric had brought his friend Christopher Grey, a muggleborn Hufflepuff, who was in Cedric’s year. And his girlfriend, Cho Chang, a rather pretty Ravenclaw fifth year, who was a halfblood, according to the blood purists.

“Okay Harry, so what’s this about?” Cedric asked, as the group settled around a table.

“Yeah, we don’t wanna miss curfew. Not with Snape on patrol tonight.” Offered Christopher with a teasing smile.

“I learned what the first task is, and I wanted to be fair to my favorite competitor.” The others fell silent as Harry spoke, and he took the opportunity to give Cedric a serious look. “It’s dragons Cedric.”

A collective gasp went around the table as everyone took that in. Cho and Hermione both went pale, while Fred and George threw an arm over each others shoulders and huddled. Christopher simply reached over and laid a hand on Cedric’s shoulder, giving it a squeeze. Luna was the most surprising, though that was hardly new. She stood from her seat, walked around the table and sat down on Harry’s lap, wrapping her arms around him. Harry was surprised and a little worried to feel her trembling, and as she leaned her head down to his shoulder, he felt wetness seep through his robe.

Wrapping his own arms about the small girl he whispered that he would be all right, but she only clung tighter. Deciding he would need to deal with whatever was bothering her after he had given Cedric all the information that he had he looked up. “Someone take some notes for Cedric. I have the four dragons they brought with them, and a couple of clues about what the task is. Thank goodness we won’t actually have to fight them, according to the handlers.”

Cedric, and Christopher both let out long breaths at the revelation that Cedric would not be forced to fight, and the twins pumped their fists in an effort to let out some of their own anxiety.  
It only took a couple of minutes to share everything he knew, which Hermione scribbled down, then duplicated her notes and handed one to Cedric.

Once that was done, Harry spoke again. “Cool, in the interest of competition, and being able to surprise each other. I’m going to recommend that we work on our plans separately. We don’t want to give away just how much we work together after all, at least, not yet.” He winked at his fellow Champion. “I know there are a couple of books, ones the library doesn’t have, in the Alliance collection.” He added, pointing to the study section for magical creatures. “Not sure if they have anything that will help, but knowing more, rarely hurts. And Hagrid is an excellent resource, I’d recommend asking about visiting Norbert, but they have the dragons in her clearing.” He trailed off, not sure what else to say.

With a sharp nod, Cedric tried to smile, it came out a little wan though. “Thanks Harry, I’ll read through those, and probably chat with Hagrid. Are you sure you don’t want me to share what I find though? I don’t mind.”

Harry smiled warmly at the older boy. “Thanks Cedric, but no. I’m sure, and it appears that I have a little more help than you anyway.” He motioned to his four friends, and then to Cedric’s two.

Christopher chuckled. “Well, you can’t argue with that Ced.” He turned to the younger students, and looked a bit more serious. “We do have a couple of others working with us though, they had extra homework tonight. So if you need any help, just let us know. Dragons are nothing to scoff at, and I for one, am more concerned with seeing everyone survive the task, than with who wins.” These words were accompanied by a visible tightening of his grip on Cedric’s shoulder.

With a glance at each other, the twins spoke in unison. “That goes for you too. As fun as it might be to watch this. We don’t want to see anyone die.”

The older boys looked at the redheads in astonishment, but then nodded solemnly.

“Okay,” Harry started again, “now that’s all covered, I think Luna needs some quiet for a bit. So we’re going to head over to the relaxation corner. Let us know when you’re headed out, I doubt either of us is going to be thinking about time, and curfew is close.”

Exchanging nods with everyone Harry rose wrapping his arms under Luna’s slight frame. Fortunately, Luna being small was a good thing in this instance, as Harry had no trouble carrying her over to the corner, and lowering the two of them into the ball pit the twins had set up. They claimed the idea had come from an American restaurant, something to do with pizza. But the important part was that Luna had found it both enjoyable, and calming. Making it the perfect place to soothe her apparently jangled nerves.

For a long time the two merely sat amidst the jumble of brightly coloured balls. Harry whispering soft assurances to his younger friend, while Luna clung tightly to the messy haired teen. Eventually Luna started to unwind, and began to speak. However, before she could get more than half a word out there was a raucous yell, and two wild redheads dove into the pit, showering them with a rainbow of hard plastic balls. A moment later Hermione stepped primmly down into the pit as well, and sat next to them.

Wrapping an arm around Harry’s shoulders, she said. “I’m worried too. A dragon Harry. How are you going to deal with a dragon?”

“I don’t know Hermione. I’ve definitely got some research to do.” Wanting to change the topic for now though, he gestured to the twins with his chin. “I take it their almost out of their minds with worry?”

“Between this and the two dozen detentions they got for that prank with Hagrid, I think their a bit overwhelmed.” She responded.

“Daddy has a book that might help.” Luna blurted out.

That got even the twins attention. Luna hardly ever spoke loudly, and this was the first time any of them had heard her speak in such a brisk manner.

Hermione was the first to recover from the shock. “Well then, should we owl him, or do you want to take a portal home for a quick visit?”

“We can go with you, if you want.” Offered Fred.

“Just to keep you company, not because we want to get out of any detentions.” Added George.

Harry had to let out a chuckle at the redheads antics, which in turn got Luna giggling. That set the twins off, and when Hermione started scowling at them all, Harry reached over and tickled her ribs until she too was laughing. Within moments the Chamber was ringing with the giggling screams of five friends in the midst of a lunatick tickle fight.

The laughter was cut off abruptly however when Cedric coughed loudly at the edge of the pit. “Umm, glad to see you guys are taking this so well.” He glanced at his watch. “But it’s almost curfew. We're headed out. Just wanted to let you know.” He smiled thinly. “Good luck Harry, we’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Good luck Cedric.” Harry answered, then stood to offer the girls a hand out of the pit.  
Luna opted to visit home in the morning so as not to risk being late for curfew, and the five headed for their common rooms.

The morning of the first task dawned bright and clear. As the task itself would take place in the afternoon there a few classes to attend before the big event. Harry however found himself unable to concentrate on the lessons. Instead he found his mind wandering back over the last month, and it’s various revelations.

His name coming out of the Goblet. The discovery of Crouch junior, he still hadn’t heard anything about his trial. The trip to Malfoy manor. And learning about the dragons.

There were three other events as well. The wand weighing ceremony, in which Olivander, the old wand maker, came to inspect all of the Champions wands and insure that they were working properly. All of the judges and Ministry people were there, along with a reporter, Rita Skeeter. She was a bit annoying, tried to drag Harry away from the others, which had set his well honed threat meter off. Fortunately, the other three Champions had come to his rescue, and explained to the old witch that as this event was about all four Champions that she would not be allowed to interview anyone alone. That shut her up, but she had a malicious look on her face when the ceremony was finished.

The second was the article the Skeeter woman had published. Which had almost completely ignored the other three Champions in order to ridicule Harry and attempted to paint him as an attention seeking prat, who had put his name in the tournament in order to increase his fame beyond what it already was. It further tried to ridicule Dumbledore, both for allowing Harry to enter, and for failing to curtail Harry’s behavior.

This article had resulted in all four Champions, plus Madam Maxime, and Headmaster Karkaroff making a visit to the publishing house of the Daily Prophet. After an hour straight of being chewed out by both adults, and being informed that all four Champions would encourage the entire wizarding world to cancel their subscriptions, a detraction was written, including a complete apology to the Champions, their schools, and the populace at large for allowing it to occur in the first place. Skeeter was placed on probation by the editor, and told that if she ever got them invaded like that again she would be immediately sacked.

The last of these events was the trip to the Rookery with Luna to discuss the dragons with Xeno. That had actually gone better than Harry had expected. After a quick explanation of what they knew, Xeno had shivied them to the library, where they spent most of an hour gathering every book they had on dragons, and a couple that contained information on communicating with magical creatures.

The past week had been largely spent, when not doing homework, reading through those books and practicing for his plan.

At last the bells rang, lunch was had, though Harry was barely able to eat anything, and they headed out of the castle down the long path to where bleachers had been set up for the audience to view the task. The Champions however were led into a tent where they were told to wait.

A few minutes passed, during which the four looked each other over. Krum was dressed in what was clearly a formal version of his Durmstrang robes. Dark red on black, it made him look rather intimidating Harry thought. Fleur was wrapped in heavy blue silk, her hair pulled back in a tight weave that made her look rather like a gailic warrior woman, though it did nothing to alter her beauty. Harry wondered if that was a result of her Veela heritage, or just good planning. Cedric had opted for what appeared to be a new set of Hufflepuff quidditch robes, the black and yellow making him look a bit like an oversized honey bee if Harry squinted a little. Meanwhile the three of them seemed confused by Harry’s outfit. A simple black robe, closed with wooden toggles, paired with sandals under otherwise bare feet.

Cedric seemed about to ask something when the tent flap opened again, and in came Ludo Bagman, Bartemius Crouch, a third man none of them had seen before, and Xenophilius Lovegood.

Crouch looked bored but Bagman bounced on his heels like a kid who’s had too much sugar. The third man looked curious and was pulling a quill and parchment out of his shoulder bag.  
“Ah good, you’re all here.” Bagman almost shouted, his smile trying to outshine every light in the room. “Well, first things first. Allow me to introduce our new reporters. This,” he indicated the unknown man, “is Silence Crik, he’s the new reporter from the Prophet. And this is Xenophilius Lovegood, editor of the Quibbler, who requested permission to join the reporting team.” The two men smiled at the Champions. “They’ve each requested the chance to interview each of you for articles after the task. With your permission we have agreed to allow it.” Bagman stopped to beam at them again.

Looking around at each other for a moment, the four Champions silently came to a decision, and elected Fleur to give their answer. She turned to the reporters. “Mister Crik, Mister Lovegood, we will agree to interview, however we expect to see the articles before they are printed, and to have the final say on whether they are in fact printed.”

The two men agreed and Bagman grinned widely. “Excellent, now that’s out of the way. On to the task, now as you know we have told you nothing. So your task for today is to collect the golden egg.” He pulled out a black drawstring bag which he fiddled with until he was holding it open before them. “You will need to select the creature which will be guarding your egg. I think ladies first, yes.” And he held the bag out to Fleur.

With a slight tremble, Fleur reached into the bag and slowly withdrew a small figurine. As she opened her hand Harry saw a perfect replica of the Welsh green in miniature, unfurling its wings and looking around. Hanging from its neck was tiny plaque which had the number two written on it. With a look of determination she nodded and stepped back.

Bagman next held the bag out to Krum who wore a look of extreme concentration. He reached into the bag and pulled forth a model of the Chinese fireball. His eye twitched as he looked down at the figure stretching and belching out a small cloud of smoke.

Cedric withdrew the Swedish short snout, and Harry tried not to wince. That left only the one, the worst of the lot. The Hungarian horntail, which had been described both by the handlers, and several of the books Harry had been reading, as the most violent and vicious dragon of the four which had been selected to be their challenge for today.

He slowly drew it forth from the bag and allowed the tiny model to stretch and prowl around on his hand for a bit as the others had done before settling himself into a seat to finalize his plan. The plaque on his dragon had a number four written on it, so he would be going last. On the one hand, this meant he would have a little extra time to work out the final details of his plan. On the other hand, it also meant he had to sit and wait in anticipation for that time as well.

Krum had gotten the number one, so he was called out first. It seemed the stadium had been enchanted to allow the voices of the crowd along with Bagman’s commentary to be heard everywhere. But Harry carefully tuned them out so that he could concentrate. He barely noticed when Fleur left to take her turn at the task. Cedric however made a point of stopping next to him for a final round of good luck wishes before he went out to face the dragons.

With no one else left in the tent, Harry finally allowed his nerves to take over for a few minutes. Hoping that it would make it easier to take control of them again when his turn came.

He paced the tent, fretting, sweating and generally holding to the frayed edges of his sanity. Could he really do this, he asked himself several times. Would his plan even work? He had not had a chance to truly test it properly, and in front of a large crowd didn’t seem the place to find out that the information he had found was wrong. Slowly he worked himself into a near frenzy until at last the whistle blew that told him it was time for him to enter the arena.

With an effort he managed to reign in his growing panic, and settle himself into a semblance of control. He hoisted his head up, and holding himself to his full height strode out of the tent onto the field. Although, field, was truly the wrong word to describe this arena. An area, perhaps the size of two quidditch fields had been scorched down to bare rock. The stones were sticking up in places, making the field look rather like a giant had drug a jagged plow along the ground in a zig zag. Spikes and pillars of stone were strewn about the place, and in the center standing over her eggs, was the horntail. It’s great black scaled head swivelling about trying to locate any threat to her eggs. The screaming voices of the crowd clearly distracting her, which was good for Harry as it gave him time to reach a point near enough to the dragon for his plan to work, but far enough that her flames couldn’t reach him if it failed.

As he strode across the rocky ground he ran over the words he would need one more time. It was unfortunate that he didn’t speak Hungarian, as his plan required that a portion be spoken in the native language of the land the dragon came from. Not that it would have mattered which dragon he had drawn as he spoke none of those languages, but it was still slightly annoying. He had looked up the translation he needed, and memorized the pronunciation by rote, meanwhile he had started a new list of languages he wanted to learn.

Reaching the spot he had picked out as the best position to enact his plan, he climbed to the top of an outcropping of rock. Which placed him in a good position to be seen readily by the horntail. Wishing he had been allowed to wear the new ear cuff he had made which would allow him to understand the dragons speech he reached up to the toggles of his robe.

A bit of fiddling and the crowd went suddenly silent as his robe fell to the ground, leaving him completely bare, apart from his sandals, to the cooling afternoon breeze. Raising his wand to the sky he cried out, “Incendio.” A great jet of flame leapt away into the sky, announcing his presence to the horntail, who turned her attention to him. With those enormous black eyes glaring down at him, Harry swallowed and nearly forgot the next part of this immensely insane plan he and Luna had come up with.

Hoping he had gotten the translation correct, he cried out the phrase he had painstakingly memorized in four different languages over the last week. Assuming he had gotten it right, he was saying, “Hear me powerful one. I mean you no harm, I seek instead your aid. A great injustice has been done unto you, and I would undo it. Look among your eggs, a thief has been hidden among them. I would take it away, where it can do no harm to you or your young.” In Hungarian. If he hadn’t gotten it right, he might just have invited the beast to devour him.

Several tense moments passed as the horntail peered at him, snuffling quietly. Finally she tilted her head towards the sky and let out a gout of flame that Harry could feel from where he stood forty yards away. She roared in his direction before turning her head towards her eggs. She carefully inspected each of them, and with a snort of surprise discovered the out of place extra egg. A second roar, this time clearly one of anger, accompanied a second gout of flame, which covered the eggs for several seconds. When the flames subsided, the eggs were visible, glowing with the heat. The horntail again snorted in what seemed to Harry to be a derisive manner, and lifted the extra egg from her nest. She took two steps towards Harry and launched the egg towards him with a quick jerk of her head. The egg spun through the air, and Harry only just managed to catch it with a shouted “Accio” followed with a levitation charm to keep it floating next to him. The heat from it was almost unbearable, it would be some time before he would be able to touch the thing.

The horntail roared again, sending another jet of flame into the sky. When she looked down at Harry once more he followed her example and sent up another jet of fire from his wand. Then he bowed deeply and retrieved his robe from the ground. Maintaining eye contact he stepped back until he was mostly out of sight from the horntail. At which point he pulled the robe back on and rushed towards the exit tent, sending jets of water at the egg every few steps in an attempt to cool the thing.

When he reached the entrance to the tent, Madam Pomfrey reached out and hauled him inside. The interior was rather cool and he was surprised at the amount of sweat which was suddenly drenching his robe. After a quick once over, Madam Pomfrey drew her wand and tagged him with her usual series of diagnostic spells. While she was checking the results, Harry looked around the tent. Krum was seated on a bed gingerly poking at his left leg, which was swathed in bandages. Fleur was lying on a second bed, cradling her right arm. And Cedric was seated on a third rubbing some kind of cream onto his head, which was currently minus it’s hair. Though Harry could see spots where it was beginning to grow back, apparently he had managed to get it burnt off.

“Are you guys okay?” Harry asked the room.

In response Krum held up his egg, with the hand that was not engaged in poking his leg. Fleur smiled wanly and nodded to the egg perched on the end of her bed. And Cedric said dryly, “As soon as my hair grows back, I will be.”

“Mister Potter.” Madam Pomfrey interrupted. “How is this possible? You are completely uninjured. This is very nearly the first time you have done something dangerous and not been injured.” Before he could respond the kindly matron of the hospital wing wrapped him in a hug and said quietly. “I’m very proud of you Harry, but if you ever scare me like that again, I’ll bind you to one of these beds until you graduate.” Then she bustled off to see to her other patients before he could respond.


	57. Chapter 57

A moment later Fred and George rushed into the tent and tackled him in a hug. “Mate that was incredible. You should have seen everyone’s faces.” Fred cried as he jumped up and down still hugging Harry tightly.

George nearly screamed in his ear. “We’ll show you the memory of it later, you’ll get a kick out of how red some of the girls went when they saw you were naked.”

That got the attention of the tents other inhabitants. Krum looked over in astonishment and asked. “You vere naked?”

Fleur blinked rapidly at them. “You faced a dragon, nude?” She asked in a tone of awe.

“Damn Harry, no wonder you didn’t want to share.” Cedric said. “Since its over now, will you explain what you did?” He asked motioning to the fourth bed which was currently unoccupied.

Fred answered for him though. “Score, he needs to get his score. How about we do a round of explanations later in the Chamber. We can show Harry everyone’s reactions too.”

“Chamber?” Fleur asked. “May we come too?” She motioned to herself and Krum.

Harry looked to Krum, silently asking if he wished to be invited. “If you vouldn’t mind. I vould surely like to see vhat my competitors did in the task.”

“Alright then, meet these two lumps in the entrance hall, after dinner, they’ll show you the way.” Harry said and was promptly led out to receive his score.

However, the scoring was short lived as almost before he had seen the scores he was ushered off to another small tent where the two reporters and Professor Flitwick were waiting. Filius quickly explained that given the nature of the last article that had been written he had insisted on being present for this interview. Although it turned out that this was unnecessary as Xeno was unlikely to be any kind of problem, and Mister Crik turned out to be polite and soft spoken. He asked a few quick questions about the tournament, and Harry’s plans. Xeno stuck to specifically what Harry’s plan had been, and where he had found the ancient ritual which he had used. He winked very slightly as he asked this, and Harry realized he was looking for a way to tell people about it, without admitting his own involvement. So Harry quickly made up a story of finding it in a dusty corner of an unused room in Hogwarts.

Then he was done until after dinner, and left to spend some time with his friends.

Dinner was a raucous affair with many cheers, and catcalls, as the students let off the energy of the day. Harry was bombarded with requests for explanations about his choice of tactic, though surprisingly he thought, only from the male population. The girls were largely giving him a wide berth, and blushing constantly whenever they looked at him.

Eventually dinner let out and Harry led a small contingent of students down to the Chamber.   
Someone had set up several tables in front of the viewing platform, and Fred seemed to have gotten there well before anyone else. He was pulling a strand of memory from his head as the crowd entered the area.

“Hey everyone.” Fred called as they approached. Waving cheerily he pointed to the tables. “Have a seat, I figured we’d get the viewing done first, then we can discuss individual ideas.”

There was a jumble of bodies as the crowd sought out seats. Harry ended up sort of in the back, at a long curved table he didn’t recall seeing down here before, along with the other Champions. They were positioned so that they could easily look at each other, or the viewing screen, comfortably. Whoever had set the space up for tonight apparently had planned for this.

“Alright.” Fred called form the front, gathering everyone’s attention. “Here we go.” A tap of his wand and the memory was playing, allowing the Champions to watch what their competitors had done in the task.

Krum had hit the fireball with a conjunctivitis curse which had blinded the poor thing, if only temporarily. This had the unfortunate side effect however, of causing the dragon to nearly trample her own eggs. Fortunately, Krum saw the danger and demonstrated some remarkable talent in transfiguration. With a spin of his wand he made a bit of the stone around the eggs flow like water above the eggs, in an arch so when the fireball stomped down her weight was shunted to the side, thus protecting her young. He was caught by the edge of a gout of fire as he collected his egg though, fortunately only his leg was scorched, and that only mildly. His final score was forty two, the judges had scored him down for not considering the eggs in the first place, but then returned points for protecting the eggs in the aftermath.

Fleur had used a spell to lull the Welsh green into sleep. Which had worked quite well surprisingly, Harry had been fairly sure that dragons would be immune to that kind of tactic. Either he had been wrong, or Fleur was just far better at that than he was. Unfortunately the dragon had snorted out a gust of flame in its sleep which had nearly caught her. She managed to dodge out of the way, but tripped and broke her arm when she fell. Her final score came to thirty eight, some of the judges having revealed a bit of a bias, while Maxime and Dumbledore had both given her a nine, the other judges had scored her at seven and six.

Cedric had chosen a transfiguration tactic, changing rocks into dogs and attempting to get the short snout to go after them instead of himself. It actually was mostly successful, until the dragon spotted him and turned back. It was only due to some lucky dodging that he only lost his hair. His final score was also clearly affected by bias, Karkaroff, Crouch, and Bagman seemed the worst of the judges, but even Maxime seemed to have a small bias towards her own Champion. The final score for Cedric was thirty five.

The other Champions spent the show of Harry’s run at the egg alternately staring at him, and the memory. Cedric’s jaw was hanging open, Krum looked like he was only just managing to keep his shut, and Fleur was oddly looking proud. When it was finished she walked around the table and pulled Harry up into a brief hug. 

“Zhank you ‘Arry. I considered that option, but decided against it, because I knew you Brits are a bit, ‘ow you say, prudish. It is good zhat you are not all so.” 

“Da.” Krum agreed. “Nudity is not nearly so frowned upon on ze continent as it is here. Though, I suppose it could be the weather.”

“It is warmer there.” Harry agreed with a smile.

“So, why did you have to be naked Harry?” Asked Neville.

“Dragon, their one of the few animals that can tell the difference between a clothed human, and unclothed. For that particular greeting, they won’t accept it, unless you are uncovered. It’s dangerous though, if you get it wrong, they attack. Unfortunately, if you’re wearing more than sandals, you got it wrong. So you just have to take the chance and hope you got the wording right?”

“What did you say?” Asked Cedric.

“It sound like Hungarian.” Krum offered.

Harry pointed to the professional seeker and smiled. “Yep, probably badly accented though. I had to learn it by rote, as I don’t speak the language.” Looking around at the confused looks on several faces he continued. “The ritual greeting only works if spoken in the native language of the dragons homeland. So I had to memorize it like I would a bit of music, in four different languages. It was tough.”

Finally after a few more hugs and backslaps they returned to the memory to view Harry’s score, which revealed more of the judges bias. Forty one was his final score. Ten from Crouch, Bagman, and Dumbledore, while Maxime had given nine, but Karkaroff gave only two.

After a bit of abuse for the biased scoring they agreed to judge each other, and all agreed that Harry had won the first task no question, with Krum taking second, and Fleur and Cedric tied for third.

“You know,” Fleur commented a bit later, “I only have one issue with ze memory we watched of ze tasks. From such a distance, it was hard to see what was happening.”

“Da.” Krum agreed. “It vould be nice to have a closer view.”

“Well, we could pull your own memories of the task if you want.” George offered.

“In the muggle world.” Hermione began, gathering looks from everyone. “Sporting events often have several cameras set up close to the players, and large screens showing the action from close up so the audience can get a better view if they want it. I wonder if it would be possible to set up something like that?” She trailed off in thought, but hardly anyone really noticed as many of them were also thinking of the possibility.

“Dat vould do vell in qvuidditch.” Krum smiled broadly at the bushy haired girl.

Cedric smiled at his friend Christopher. “Well, that sounds like something for the brains to work out.” Christopher jostled him good naturedly. “In the meantime we should probably get to work on the eggs. We were told they were a clue to the next task.”

One of the other Durmstrang students pointed to Krums egg and said in rapid Bulgarian. “It has a seam, and a catch. I think that it opens. The clue is likely inside.”

“Da.” Krum agreed and clicked the catch. When the egg fell open a horrible screeching rent the air of the Chamber. Most of those gathered clutched at their ears, trying to block out the sound.   
Harry, along with a few others however, recognized the sound for what it was, and were listening intently. Before the clue was complete though, Krum had fumbled the egg closed again.

“Zat was terrible.” Fleur said, resettling her hair from where it had been mussed when she covered her ears.

“It’s mermish.” Harry called across the table before anyone else could speak. Everyone turned to him, except Hermione who was busily scratching something down on a bit of parchment. “Yes I speak mermish, but don’t worry. One of the odd magical properties of the language is that it translates to your native tongue when heard underwater. Just place the egg in a bathtub or whatever, then dunk your head under with it. You’ll be able to hear the clue for yourself. What I heard there seems to indicate that the next task will be somewhere underwater. It said, come seek us where our voices sound, we cannot. Then you closed it, so not sure what comes next.”

“I’m thinking probably the lake. Hagrid mentioned that there’s a colony of merfolk who live in there.” Hermione said looking up. “Umm, while each of the eggs probably has the same clue, its’ possible they don’t. So you four should probably decide how much you’re open to sharing before you discuss it any further.

The four Champions shared a look of partial surprise at that thought and quickly agreed that they would not discuss their plans for the second task until after it had been completed. That spelled the end of the meeting and they all began making their way back to their dormitories.

“Arry!” Hagrid called the following morning, when Harry made his way down to visit the dragons properly. “Come on, come on.” The large man ushered him forward to meet everyone.

The handlers, of which there were nine, were excited to meet him. They of course were familiar with the ritual of greeting he had used, but had been deeply surprised that any of the Champions had actually used it.

“Not only is public nudity frowned on here in Britain, the greeting can be deadly to get wrong.” One of them explained, as they all tried to clap him on the back, or shake his hand.

One, a lady who looked to be about Charlies age, wanted to know more about Norberta and Hagrids connection to her. And had been told that Harry was the one to talk to about that. When she asked the crowd quieted, apparently she wasn’t the only one who wanted to know. Though first she had to explain about Norberta. Apparently this had been the first time since her first summer at Hogwarts that the norwegian ridgeback had been seen by actual professional dragon handlers. And Hagrid had thought it rude to ask about. In short, the dragon was in fact female, and so her name had been adjusted.

So Harry told them the story of how Luna had found the information on how to bond with any creature, and how they had worked together to brew the potion and design the short ritual for Hagrid. Many of them were taking notes. Of course, Harry had expected a few of them to be interested and had put together a short packet of notes for them. He pulled it out to show them, then made copies for everyone who wanted a set. Then he showed them his newest creation.  
“I finally found a use for that bit of tooth and claw you gave me Charlie.” He said, pointing to the cuff which rested atop his left ear.

“What’s it do?” Charlie asked, looking closely at the carved dragon figure.

“Well, if I got the enchantment right. It will allow me to understand their speech, without being connected by a familiar bond. Hagrid, would you help, make sure I’m translating correctly?”

“Sure Harry.”

A few minutes later, the little figure was being passed around, the handlers cooing over how well it was carved, and the knowledge that they would soon have a tool which would help them in caring for their charges. Not to mention that many of them were interested in bonding with a dragon, and the translating cuff would be useful in finding the correct dragon for each of them to bond with.

Later that evening, Harry spent a short time considering the egg from the task. He had used the lost and found room, he really should consider finding a better name for it, to get himself a large tub full of water. Placing himself and the egg inside he heard the clue more accurately, as he had advised his fellow Champions.

“Come seek us where our voices sound,  
We cannot sing above the ground.  
And while you’re searching ponder this,  
We’ve taken what you’ll sorely miss.  
An hour long you’ll have to look,  
And to recover what we took.  
But passed an hour prospects black,  
Too late it’s gone it won’t come back.”

Yeah, probably the lake, he thought, as he packed his things to return to the common room. And likely, in the merfolk village. I wonder what they intend to take though. I’ll have to ask Hermione, she tends to have an easier time puzzling out odd clues like that.

“Potter, please remain behind, there is something I need to speak to you about.” Professor Mcgonagall called as the bell rung letting the class out for lunch.

Walking up to the desk, Harry wondered what this about. It had been nearly a week since the first task and as far as he knew nothing had happened to get him in any trouble.

“Mister Potter, a part of the triwizard tournament is the yule ball. Traditionally the Champions and their partners open the dance. It is expected that you will attend.”

“Partners?” Harry asked, his voice rising to a squeak.

“Yes, Potter, partners. You will be opening the dance.”

“But I don’t dance Professor.”

“Well, you do now. This is tradition Potter, and I expect you to make Hogwarts proud. You are dismissed, make sure you have a partner for the dance.”

Harry slowly made his way out of the classroom, pondering what he was going to do. He had never danced before, and had no idea how. He had never even seen a formal dance, somehow none of the movies he had seen in the last couple of years had included one. But even worse, he was expected to have a partner. A date, someone with whom he would be expected to be romantic. That would make them a target. Moldy and his grave munchers already wanted him dead, what would they do to someone he was romantic with.

There was a dull aching feeling in his chest, like a vise being closed around him. Suddenly he was moving, running faster than he had ever moved before. The hallways, and people were little more than a blur as he passed by. He didn’t even hear Mrs. Pince the librarian calling for him to slow down as he passed by. The little alcove where they had situated the entrance to the Chamber only just registered as he said the password. Somehow the slide down seemed slow, he felt like it took forever to reach the bottom. The pool was a drag on his clothes when he came to a stop, but he didn’t allow it to deter him. The bright cheerful colours of the Chambers entry hall blurred to grey as he swept passed heading for the back room where the portals waited.

Bright cheerful sunlight greeted him as he exited to his room on the island. He finally slowed as he took in the familiar scent of sea air, and the breeze across his balcony sang him a calm melody. Through the wide open doors he could see the ocean rolling through the bay, the lighthouse which was still only half constructed, and even the far end of the dock where the small cruise ship would eventually be anchored.

As he allowed the calm and tranquility of the island to seep past his panic he slowly began to relax. Eventually his breathing slowed, his heart beat calmed and he was able to take in more. There was a change in his room, a new addition to the wall next to the open doors. A map of the island had been added, and there were several small dots moving about on it.

Moving closer he noted that each dot had a label, just like the marauders map, it seemed that Padfoot and Mooney had finally completed this part of the islands security. It had been planned for a while, but kept being pushed to the side in favor of more important tasks, such as getting the irrigation set up for the green houses. Or repairing the damage to the hotel. For a moment Harry wondered when they had gotten it done. It had only been a few months since he was last here, but he pushed the question aside as unimportant. Instead he looked closer, trying to find one particular dot. If anyone could help him with this predicament it was someone who had gone through something similar. His godfather, had been an outcast from his family, and as they were both insane and obsessed with blood status, they would likely have targeted any girl he got close to unless she were someone they approved of. Maybe he would have some advice on how to deal with Harry’s concerns.

He didn’t have to look far. Both Sirius and Remus seemed to be heading toward him. A few minutes later he got confirmation of that when they knocked on the door to his rooms.

“Pup!” Cried the lanky dark haired man as he rushed into the room, sweeping Harry into a hug. For almost a minute Harry simply relaxed into the embrace, wondering how it was that he felt so comfortable with this man he had met less than a year ago, and had spent so little time with since. 

When Sirius set him down again, he was immediately swept into a second hug from Remus, who whispered into his hair. “We missed you cub. It’s good to see you safe.”

He had written them of course, explaining about the tournament, and the dragons. Even outlined his plan for how to deal with the first task. They had responded with wishes of good luck, and confirmation that they agreed that his plan was a good one. Apparently that hadn’t been enough to soothe their worries.

Ruffling Harry’s hair, Sirius asked. “So what brings you here pup? Losing your tan? Or did you fancy a dip in the ocean?”

Looking up Harry saw that he was smiling, and there was laughter in his eyes. As he watched though, the laughter faded, replaced with concern.

“What’s wrong Harry. You look worried, maybe even scared.” He said, reaching out to grip both of Harry’s shoulders.

For a moment Harry was bothered at the idea of being held in place, but before he could muster any real sense of outrage, he realized that he was swaying on his feet, and that the gesture was meant to help him. With Sirius holding on like that he could steady himself, he found he needed to slow his breathing again, and his heart rate had gone up once more. Sirius was saying something but there was a rushing in his ears, and he couldn’t hear his godfather.

He found himself being maneuvered onto the sofa, Remus vanished but returned quickly with a glass of something. The cup was pressed to his lips and he swallowed automatically. Apple juice it tasted like, but with a hint of something else. As the liquid sloshed down his throat, the constriction in his chest seemed to lighten again, and in a moment he was breathing normally once more.

There was an arm around his shoulders and he was being rocked gently. His head on someone’s shoulder. He could see Remus, kneeling in front of the sofa. That meant, he looked a little to his left and saw that he was on Sirius lap. Sirius was holding him tightly and rocking slowly, whispering meaningless words, meant to comfort. For an instant he could almost recall being held like this before. Somewhere, far away, long ago. A woman with long red hair, singing something he couldn’t remember. He noticed a wet spot by his cheek, soaking through Sirius shirt, and realized he had been crying. He couldn’t tell for how long, or even for how long he had been sitting there. He heard two men chuckling though. Looking around he saw a sad smile on Remus face.

When Remus saw that he had Harry’s attention he spoke. “Yes Harry, your mum did sing to you, quite often. I remember she always had music playing when she was pregnant. Said she had read somewhere that it helps with development.”

“You wouldn’t want me singing though.” Added Sirius, his voice buzzing in Harry’s ear. “I can’t carry a tune in a bucket, your dad used to say.”

“It’s true.” Remus grinned. “Padfoot barks more melodiously than Sirius sings.”

“Hey, Mooney isn’t any better.” Sirius kicked gently at his best friend.

“What brought it up Cub?” Remus asked, turning back to the clearly distraught young man.

“I don’t know. I just had a, a memory I guess. Of being like this.” He waved a hand to indicate himself and Sirius. “But with mum.”

The arms around him tightened briefly. “I’m glad you have a memory like that pup. Much better than it could be. And I’ll be here to help with things like this whenever you need from now on.”

“Thanks Sirius. And you too Mooney.” He tried to smile at the two men, but it felt a little forced. “Umm, Moony, what was that drink you gave me?”

Smiling warmly, Remus supplied a second cup. “Apple juice, with a splash of calming draft. Good for whatever ails you.”

Nodding, Harry took the offered cup and drank some more. “How fast does it work?”

“Normally, pretty fast.” Sirius answered. “Given that it took a few minutes for you calm, I’m guessing whatever’s wrong, is pretty bad. Or at least really frightening. Whenever you’re ready, tell us what happened and we’ll help. But wait until you’re ready. There’s no rush.”

It indeed took several more minutes before Harry was calm enough to explain his situation. When he got to the need to ask a girl to the ball, the two men looked like they were about to break out in laughter. So he quickly pressed onto the point of putting said girl in danger of being targeted. Which stopped the giggles before they started.

“Well pup.” Sirius began slowly, picking up speed as he continued. “That’s a fair point. But you can’t give up on your life because of what your enemies might do. It’s important to keep going, no matter what.”

“If you aren’t living, then what are you fighting for.” Remus added to the argument. “That’s what your dad used to say to us when we were worried about the same thing.”

“You’re one to talk Mooney.” Sirius grinned up at his best friend. “You never did agree. Or are you going to tell me that you settled down and found a wife sometime in the last twelve years?”  
Remus grew red and batted at Sirius’ head. But he chuckled all the same.

Looking between the two men Harry could see how much they loved one another, and the thought, he found, was comforting. Then he remembered his other problem. “Oh yeah, I almost forgot. I don’t know how to dance either.”

For a half a heartbeat there was silence between the three, then Remus fell over and Sirius leaned forward as the room exploded with laughter.

“That, cub, has to be the best subject change, I’ve ever heard.” Remus called out from where he was rolling on the floor.

“Oh sweet Merlin pup. You can’t do that to your old dogfather. My sides can’t take the stitches from laughing this hard anymore.” Came Sirius’ wheezing voice from where he was just managing to stay on the sofa. Mostly due to Harry’s weight holding him in place.

It took several more minutes for everyone to calm from the laughing fit Harry had caused, but when they had, Sirius rose from the sofa and set Harry on his feet. “Come on pup. Let’s go sit on the balcony and see if we can’t work out a plan for you.

A little over an hour later they had deftly avoided the topic of Harry inviting anyone to the ball. Instead they were discussing arrangements to teach Harry how to dance. Sirius and Remus having silently agreed to stick to the safer topic for now and hope that in learning to dance he would come around to the idea of dating.

They were interrupted when a frantic pair of redheads, and a bushy haired young lady stormed through the portal, screaming about Harry being missing from the castle. They were rather surprised to see the object of their worry sitting comfortably on a deck chair sipping at a fruity drink, and blinking up at them in confusion.

“You’re here.” Hermione spat when she recognized him. “We were so worried when you didn’t show up on the map, and weren’t in the lost and found room.”

In a rush, the three charged down and hauled Harry from his seat, wrapping him in a four way hug. When they let go Harry was wheezing, but they weren’t done, Hermione, then Fred, then George took turns smacking him about as they alternately screamed about him running off on his own, and terrifying them with worry. When they finally let him go, he felt rather bruised, and was glaring at the two grown men who were once again rolling with laughter at his predicament.

Fred, George, and Hermione, were not much help on the subject of dancing, and even less on getting Harry a date. Fred and George’s advice went as far as, “just ask, it's easy.” While Hermione had a lot to say about dancing, despite never having done it herself, and the tidbit that most of the girls at Hogwarts would be interested in going with Harry anyway.

In the end, Harry was glad when they dragged him back through the portal, all four calling out that they would be happy to join Padfoot, and Mooney for dance lessons. Although both the twins and Hermione confided that they had no intention of actually going for those, once they were back in the school.

Harry resolved to sleep on the question, and figure something out tomorrow. Unfortunately that turned out to be a lot more difficult than he had thought. Between his first and second class he was approached by a third year Hufflepuff he wasn’t sure he had ever seen before, who promptly asked if she could be his date for the ball. In a fit of mild panic at the surprise he squeaked out something that he thought might have sounded like a no, then rushed down the corridor. He had to hide in an unused classroom to slow his breathing and get himself calm again, and was almost late to his next class because of it.

The next walk between classes was no better. This time two different girls, one a second year Slytherin for some reason, and the other a fifth year Gryffindor who looked like she would pick him up and break him over her knee if he said no. He actually was late to Charms due to the need to reign in his frantic heart rate that time.

Lunch was blissfully free of offers, although that seemed more likely due to the twins shoving him between them and scowling around at everyone, rather than anyone’s desire to eat.

When he was approached by one of the Beauxbatons girls after his last class for the day he knew he would need to hide. This time as he was less panicked and wanted distraction more than advice, he headed for the lost and found room. He hoped that by spending some time focused on something else he might be able to reduce the gut wrenching terror enough to think about the prospect of a date rationally.

He was wrong. Every few minutes of sorting through the junk, he would come across something which caused him to think of the ball, and in turn of the need to find a date.

A tattered old gown, a pair of once sparkling high heeled boots, a battered trumpet, even a tired old gramophone, which wheezed out half a note as he walked by. All served as potent reminders of the doom that was hanging over him. He had to find a partner for the ball. He would either have to ask someone, or accept an offer, and then he would be seen with that person. They would dance together, maybe laugh. People would see them, dancing, laughing, talking. Some of those people would make assumptions of what they meant to each other, some of those would report to their parents. More assumptions would be made, and the next time Voldemort came for Harry, he would target his date for the Yule Ball. Images floated into his head, of random girls being tormented for associating with him. First it was the random, unknown girls who had asked him out that day. Then it morphed into an image of Susan being stretched on a table, like they’d seen in the Addams Family Movie. Hannah dropped in a large water tank to drown, like the escape artists, except this one didn’t have an escape hatch.  
With a shake of his head he shoved those thoughts aside, and tried to focus on the room and its contents.

He did manage to find several new items to add to his collection, once they had been repaired. The gramophone for example, once repaired would be a nice addition to the hotel’s ballroom. An old cabinet, which actually looked like it had once been rather fine, he thought would make an excellent wardrobe, perhaps a gift for the Grangers.

However, it was no use trying to escape the problem. He was only ever able to forget about it for a few minutes at most before his thoughts wandered back to the question of who to take to the ball.

Eventually his mind once again began conjuring images of his friends being tormented for their association with him. And then the worst of those images rose in his mind's eye. Luna, her robes torn, writhing under a half seen wand, a strange high pitched cold voice crying, “Crucio.”  
With a jolt he realized he had left the room of lost things, and was moving through the castle corridors again. His legs seemed to have a mind of their own as he could not recall directing them in any way.

Soon he found himself pushing open the doors to the top of the Astronomy tower. The chilled night air struck him, and the cold finally woke him fully. He stood there for several long moments just breathing, coming down from the near panic that had brought him out here.

Walking to the lip of the tower he gazed out on the grounds, the lake, almost invisible except for the odd glimmer of stars reflected on its rolling surface. The forest, more easily heard at this time of evening, than seen. The slight breeze rustling the leaves, coupled with the cries of various nocturnal inhabitants. Even the stars themselves seemed to be looking down on him with something akin to pity, as though they knew he was doomed, and could do nothing to save him.

It’s very peaceful he thought as he gazed upon the beauty of the gently snow touched view. Almost like nothing could touch him here, nothing but his own thoughts. A cold wind slapped his cheek, and he thought of flying. It had been a while since he had taken his broom out. He may not be much interested in continuing with quidditch, but he still loved flying. If he kept his head up, looking to the sky, and ignored the feel of the stone beneath his feet, he could almost imagine that he was flying, without the aid of a broom. He spread his arms to the breeze, feeling it wrap around his arms. He could imagine how it would feel, the wind whipping past him, tugging his hair back. His robes and cloak, flapping around him. If he took just a couple more steps forward, and one step up, he could feel it for real. Even if only for a few moments. If he kept his eyes closed he could experience that sense of exhilaration, and he wouldn’t even have to think about it ending. It would end, of course, he knew. There would be a sudden stop when he reached the ground, but if he didn’t look, maybe he wouldn’t feel that part. And then he wouldn’t have to worry about a date, he wouldn’t need to learn to dance. No one would be in danger because of him, no one would be hurt because they were close to him. And, and he could see his parents, he could be held by his mother, talk with his father. Everyone was ready. They knew what to do when Voldemort returned. They had the tools they needed. The island could support them, and they knew how to set up other places like it. They didn’t need him anymore.

He didn’t hear the doors open again, or see the slender figure slip through. He had no inkling that someone was coming up behind him as stood there, arms wide in the night breeze, contemplating the end of his experience. Dirty blonde hair caught the light from a nearby window as the figure stepped cautiously forward, until she was close enough to touch the boy on the edge of the tower.

Luna had been told, by the twins and Hermione, of Harry’s panic over the idea of dancing. But she hadn’t thought it was this bad. When he hadn’t reappeared from the room of lost things when the twins decided to head to bed, she had asked to borrow the marauders map so she could keep an eye out for him, just in case he did a runner again.

She had watched for what felt like hours until finally, a little after curfew he had appeared, and he had indeed been moving quickly through the halls. As she watched, she wondered if he was checking his own map, as he avoided the patrolling teachers, and prefects perfectly. But he didn’t seem to be coming down to the Chamber where she had been waiting, instead he headed up, eventually reaching the tallest tower. An odd feeling had swept through her, a sense of impending dread, and she knew. She had to get to Harry before he did something terrible.

When she reached the tower and saw him standing at the edge, arms wide, face turned just enough for her to see a tear roll down his cheek, and a sad smile adorned his lips, she had a flash of understanding. She saw in her peculiar way of seeing things that haven’t happened, yet could, a vision of Harry lying at the base of the tower, head facing the wrong way on a body broken beyond repair, that same sad smile locked forever in place.

Moving as carefully as she could so as not to spook him, and perhaps send him falling, she made her way to the boy she was beginning to see as more than the older brother she had envisioned him as just a year ago when she had begun teaching him about the old traditions, and religion followed by the Lovegood family for more generations than most people cared to count. She knew she had to do this just right, she wasn’t strong enough to haul him back from the edge. She had to trip him backwards, and it would most likely hurt, as he was a bit bigger than her.

Lost in the feel of the wind on his face, Harry knew nothing of the girl sneaking up behind him. He knew only his own thoughts, and the path they were treading. He knew that some people believed that if he allowed himself to fall from the tower, that he would not go to wherever his parents were. While others believed that all the dead, go to the same place. But what did he believe, he frowned slightly as that thought struck him. He had never thought about that before, he had read a few different views on the subject, but had never bothered to consider the question himself. What happens to a person when they die, and does it matter how they die. Does a person go to a different place if they die one way, than if they die another. Would he be able to see his parents if he fell from the tower, or would he have to die like they did, due to someone else’s actions, in order to see them. Then a different thought invaded.

What if Sirius was right, what if they aren’t truly gone, but just frozen. The trip they had taken to see where their bodies were stored hadn’t been very enlightening. He hadn’t actually been able to see them, only the large tubes their bodies were encased within, tubes filled with something called liquid nitrogen, which apparently prevented any form of decay. There was a contract for him to be placed in one of those tubes if anything happened, although based on what they had said it seemed unlikely that he would be gotten to one of those tubes if he fell here.

That thought pulled him back, if his parents weren’t actually gone, then he needed to stay here in order to see them again and he wouldn’t be able to do that if he fell from the tower. He took half a step backward and ran into someone. Someone smaller, someone who reached up and wrapped arms around his chest and pulled. A foot came up and collided with the back of his knee, causing it to buckle. With a soft cry of surprise he went down, tumbling on top of whoever had just pulled him down. Not knowing who this was he rolled, coming up on top, reaching for his wand. He stopped when he saw who it was.

“Luna.” He whispered, barely more than a breath. Tears had left tracks down her cheeks, and he wondered what she had been crying about.

“Harry.” Came her reply, just as soft as his own had been. “I didn’t mean to scare you.” She added lifting a finger to wipe a tear he hadn’t known he had let fall from the corner of his eye. “I don’t know what's wrong, but please let me help you.” She whispered as she pulled herself up by his shoulders to wrap him in a hug. Her lips brushed his ear as she spoke and he shivered.

“I don’t know how anyone can help me Luna.” He replied, letting go of his control, as the tears returned, falling thick and fast upon her shoulder. He tried to call them back, tried to regain control, but as he knelt there, leaning over his smallest friend, it hit him. He had almost thrown himself off the tower, nearly allowed himself to suicide, and why, because he didn’t know how to handle girls. And yet here was Luna, definitely a girl, in his arms, if he would just reach around her, holding him as tightly as Sirius had done just yesterday. And he was comfortable, being with Luna was easy, and she accepted him completely. It wasn’t that he didn’t know how to handle girls, it was that he didn’t know how to handle romance. He could learn to dance, surely it couldn’t be all that hard. But being with someone, that part he wasn’t sure about, and every time he got close to thinking about it, he went into a panic. He wasn’t ready to think about that, he needed distraction, he needed to focus on something else, to focus hard enough to keep everything else out. And for that focus to last long enough for him to be able to think about the problem rationally, and nothing he had tried so far had worked.

Luna saved him from his thoughts. “Harry, why? Why would you want to leave us?” She whispered into his hair.

As he opened his mouth, he realized that the answer to her question was not nearly as simple as he had at first thought. Yes there was the problem of the dance, but that was only part of it. And finally he was able to move again. He brought one arm up around Luna’s back as he rolled in the opposite direction ending leaning against the wall with Luna on his lap. Oddly similar to how Sirius had held him yesterday. He reached up to brush a strand of hair from her face and rubbed a tear from her cheek. “I don’t.” He started with, and then held up a hand to halt her argument before she even opened her mouth. “I’m not sure what I was hoping to leave really. I think, I think I was just overwhelmed. There’s too much, too much in here.” He tapped the side of his head. “Too much in here.” He tapped his chest, just above the heart. “And I don’t know how to handle it all. I went to Sirius yesterday, but it wasn’t enough. He helped me see that there are solutions to what I’m worried about, but not how to deal with what I’m feeling. Or maybe I just didn’t understand what he was trying to tell me, I don’t know. Maybe I just had to work through some of it myself, I don’t know.” He trailed off, unsure of how to explain.

“But why, that.” Luna asked, gesturing to the edge of the tower.

A thought struck him and he looked down at the girl in his lap. “I, I think I can show you. We’ll need the pensieve though.” He said, a little louder, and in a bit of a rush, as the idea came to him.

“It’s down in the Chamber.” She answered, blinking owlishly at his change of pace.

Standing, and gently settling her to her feet, Harry pulled out his invisibility cloak and map, wrapping the two of them in the former.

A long silver strand of memory trailed from the end of Harry’s wand to his temple. With a tremble it disconnected from his head and was quickly transferred to the pensieve. For this viewing Harry had opted for the traditional method of entering the pensieve, rather than the projector version they usually used. As this was a private memory he didn’t want to share it with anyone who happened to walk in. So they were tucked into a corner seat, out of the way enough that on the off chance that someone walked into the Chamber they would be unlikely to be seen.  
Nodding to Luna, Harry took a deep breath and dove into the memory. He floated through the swirl of colors that preempted the start of the actual memory, and settled to the ground on a sidewalk next to a primary school. A few cars drove lazily past as he turned to Luna who was appearing next to him on the walk.

“So, where are we?” She asked as she took hold of his hand.

Pointing to the school and the group of children coming down the walkway to the door, Harry said. “This is my old primary school. This was my first day.” He pointed to a small boy at the back of the crowd of children. The tiny boy sported a head of messy black hair, and eyes of a bright, shining emerald.

The boy seemed shy, as he was not speaking to anyone, and kept his head down. He also seemed to be in a bit of a hurry as he walked around the other children and proceeded to cross the road. He hadn’t bothered to look around at all though. The teacher screamed as a car screeched, it’s driver standing on the break. Luna gripped his hand tight enough to cut off the flow of blood to his fingers. The car slammed into little Harry, who flew several yards down the road, coming to a stop against a light pole. Luna watched until he stopped moving, then she curled against him.

“Oh Merlin Harry. What happened?” She asked in a quavery voice.

As the scene dissolved into a swirling darkness, Harry wrapped his arms around the girl. “It was my first day at school. I had been looking forward to it for days. I thought maybe I would be able to make some friends, maybe even have fun. Until we got there. Dudley beat up the other kids when they tried to talk to me. He told them all I was a freak and they shouldn’t talk to me. It didn’t take long for most of the kids to decide he was right. By the end of the day, I just wanted to go home and hide in my cupboard. Then this happened.” He gestured at the world swirling around them.

As Luna looked up she saw that they were standing on a hillside. The ground was covered in flowers, and a warm summer sun was beating down on them.

Nearby, little Harry was sitting up, surrounded by flowers and completely naked. He looked like a little cherub. He wrapped his tiny arms around his tinier torso and shivered. A moment later a set of clothes appeared next to him and he began to dress.

When he had finished dressing he looked around, then climbed to the top of the hill. Following along behind him, Harry and Luna could hear a sound coming from nearby. A short distance away, there was a spring, bubbling out into a small pond, with a creek burbling away down the hill. Next to the pond, under a small outcropping of earth and stone, a thing was flopping about. Looking closer they could see that the thing looked rather like a burnt human baby. Its skin was covered in streaks of black and red. It seemed like the thing was attempting to wail, but all that was issuing forth from the cracked and bleeding maw was a choked gasping sound.

“You can’t help.” Called a voice from the other side of the pond.

It seemed that little Harry had been inspecting the creature as well. But as they looked up, they saw a woman standing just to the side of the pond. She was tall, with long flowing red hair, and bright green eyes, exactly like Harry’s. Little Harry looked down at his reflection in the pond, and back up to the woman. Then he spoke in a voice only just audible over the babbling brook. “Mum.”

The woman nodded and knelt down holding her arms out, as little Harry rushed to her and was scooped into her embrace.

A moment later they were joined by a man with messy black hair, and glasses. He looked remarkably like Harry. The man ruffled Little Harry’s hair and smiled at the woman. “Our son is very handsome, Lilly.” He said.

“Yes he is, James.” The woman replied. “He has your hair though.” She frowned.

“And your eyes.” James commented leaning over to plant a kiss on Lilly’s temple.

“Lets sit, there’s a lot to discuss.” James wrapped an arm around Lilly’s back and helped her down to sit next to the pond. Once she was comfortable he joined her.

Blinking up at the pair of them, little Harry spoke. “Where am I? Is this real?”

Chuckling, James stroked his son’s cheek. “This is the place between son. When the car hit you, well, technically, you died. But as the EMT’s are resuscitating you as we speak, that won’t last. As you are here though, we have the chance to talk.”

“And it’s important that we do.” Lilly added. “There are a few things you need to know. Unfortunately you won’t really be able to remember most of this when you wake up.” She frowned, apparently unsure of how to continue.

James saved her. “Someday, something will prompt you to put this memory in a pensieve. Don’t worry, you’ll know what that is when the time comes. When you view this memory again, you’ll be able to understand more. Until then just remember that we love you very much, and we want you to be happy.”

“Right.” Lilly took back the reins. “So first things first. That,” she pointed to the baby like creature, “is a piece of Voldemort’s soul. There will be others lying around somewhere. The vessels are called horcruxes. It’s pretty nasty, but so long as those things exist, old Voldy can’t be killed. Not really. So they will need to be found and dealt with. There are several ways, and as I won’t be there I’ll let you decide how you want to deal with them.”

“The journals I left in your vault at Gringotts will help.” James offered.

“As will my personal journals in the house at Godric’s Hollow. They’re in a hidden safe behind my desk.”

“Oh sure, you’ll tell our son, but not me.” James teased her.

“Hush James, we have limited time. Two more subjects to cover. I want grandbaby’s, so you take care of yourself, and find yourself a wonderful young lady to share your life with. It doesn’t have to be any particular time, but don’t ever think that you shouldn’t. Not for any reason, you are my wonderful handsome boy, and you deserve to be happy the same as everyone else. So find that perfect girl and hold on tight.” She smiled over at her husband. “Just like we did.”

“And if you can, try to get back what was stolen from us. But that’s a side thing.” James added. “More importantly, get away from the Dursleys. They are hurting you son. In more ways than you know.”

“I’m going to have words for Petunia when she gets here.” Lilly said darkly.

“Tell everyone around you son. Tell them everything the Dursleys did to you. Someone will listen and help you get away. In the meantime, hide from them, run from them, whatever you have to do. Find a way to be free of them.”

The two adults looked up at a sparkling in the sky. “Oh, its time.” Lilly said quietly. She held little Harry tighter still for a moment before letting him go. James scooped him up for a quick hug of his own.

“I love you Prongslet, don’t ever forget that. When you get back, give ‘em hell from me.”

“I love you Harry, Mummy will always be watching out for you.” 

A moment later little Harry faded from view and the world collapsed. Harry and Luna rose out of the pensieve back to the little corner table in the Chamber. For a long time they looked at each other, then slowly, Luna reached out and drew Harry into an embrace. Whispering in his ear. “Oh, Harry. That was beautiful.”

The following morning came far too early. Not surprising given how late Harry and Luna had been up talking about what they had learned. Harry had gone into his library when he got back to his dorm, and set out a few journals that he thought might have the information he needed on horcruxes.

As he opened his trunk to get ready for the day however, something struck him as out of place. In the cubby where he kept his boxers there were instead several brightly coloured bits of silk. He was actually used to this by now. Every few days it seemed, Loki would exchange his underwear with someone else's. Usually Luna or Hermione’s. However these certainly did not belong to either of his close female friends. And they didn’t look to be any of his roommates either.

“Loki!?” He called hoping the little faux dragon was somewhere nearby.

“Morning Harry.” The chipper little morning bastard called from the top of Harry’s bed. The tiny not dragon had his head hanging over the side of the curtains, a smile gracing his scaly face, eyes twinkling with mirth.

“Loki, who’s underwear did you steal this morning?” Harry asked tiredly, not yet awake enough to properly appreciate the humour.

“No one’s.” The scaly face smiled even broader.

“Loki?”

“I stole them last night.”

“Loki?”

“It took forever to get in to the drawer too. I’ve been trying all year.”

“Loki?”

“I mean really, is it actually that important to protect one’s knickers? Seriously, far too much work for a prank. I should come up with something better. I’m getting tired of stealing undies.”

“Loki?”

“Hmm, cat lady lost her undergarments, but that’s no good for the others. Well maybe star lady, but I should put them somewhere else. You’re not being any fun.”

“Loki?” Harry gulped in fear of the answer. “Are you saying these are Professor Mcgonagall’s?”

“Yep, cat lady’s. I should do something to bat man. He’s always prowling around, so fierce, and serious. He needs a laugh. Hmm, bears thinking about.” The creature raised one clawed finger to tap at its chin.

Harry barely heard any of that though, he was staring in horror at the pile of silk which belonged to the very stern Transfiguration Professor. “I’m dead, forget the tournament. The staff is gonna kill me.” He said to himself, as his dormmates began to stir.

Kevin Entwhistle wandered over and blinked blearily at Harry. “Loki did it again huh? Did he tell you whose they were?”

That got Terry’s attention, and he rushed over. “Ooh, is it a girls again?” Catching sight of the pile of silk he crooned. “Oh it is, can I touch them?” He asked, reaching for the pile.

“Mcgonagall’s.” Harry said in a voice of dread.

The cheer went out of both boys eyes, and Terry’s hand jerked away as though it had been burnt. Kevin managed to speak first. “Oh damn mate.”

Terry decided to add his thoughts. “You’re dead mate. She’ll use your entrails for class props.”

“At least it wasn’t Snape’s.” Apparently Kevin wanted something to weaken the blow.

“What are you going to do mate?” Terry asked.

Blinking rapidly, Harry waved his wand to transfigure a torn bit of parchment into a small box. A second wave floated the underwear into the box. “I’ll take them down to her office before breakfast. Hopefully she’ll be there, if not I’ll have to catch her after.” Looking as though he had just been caught in the headlights of an oncoming truck, Harry stood and made his way to the bathroom for his morning ritual.

“Professor Mcgonagall.” Harry called when he saw the woman exiting her office.

“Good morning Mister Potter. What can I do for you?” The stern Professor replied, closing the door.

“Umm, it’s kind of personal. Can we talk in your office?”

“Very well.” She blinked at him, but opened the door again and ushered him inside. “You realize breakfast will be served soon. I hope this will not take long.” She said as she sat primly at her desk.

Laying the box on the desk Harry pulled the flap open to reveal it’s contents. “Loki, sends his regards.”

Glancing into the box the woman paled. “Mister Potter, where did you find these?”

“In my trunk. Normally he switches mine with Luna’s, or Hermione’s. Not sure why he decided to branch out today.”

“You are telling me that your familiar did this?” The Professor’s lips had become very thin.

“Yes ma’am.” Harry replied, his gaze fixed firmly on the desk He wasn’t sure what was going to happen, just that it was likely to hurt a great deal.

“Well, in that case. Five points to Ravenclaw for honesty Mister Potter.” Harry couldn’t help it. He was so surprised at this pronouncement that he looked up. Mcgonagall was smiling. “Yes, it’s a bit surprising to me as well. I had assumed the twins had something to do with this.” She waved her wand and a box floated out of a cupboard. “I suspect these are yours then?”

A quick look in the box confirmed that it was indeed filled with his own boxers. “Yes ma’am.” He told her.

“Very good then. Let’s not mention this again.”

“Yes ma’am. Thank you ma’am.” He replied holding up the box for emphasis.

Harry was a little late starting his breakfast, owing to the need to rush back to Ravenclaw tower to deposit his underclothes. But at least the problem was sorted.

The next few weeks became a blur of problem solving. Harry had to work out who to ask to the ball, the puzzle his parents had left for him, he still had work to do on the prison, and worst of all, shudder, he had to learn to dance.

Surprisingly, the dancing became the easiest problem. Several of the girls in the Alliance had gotten together to arrange dance lessons for everyone. Harry found much to his delight, that not only was he actually not terrible at it, apparently learning to dual had been good for more than just survival, but he also enjoyed it.

The prison was coming along steadily, though there was still a good deal of work to be done.

The horcrux puzzle was complicated and would require a lot of work. He had stumbled across the term a few times, in reading through the family journals, but now he was looking for specific information, rather than just trying to learn about his family.

And then there was the issue of figuring out who to ask to the dance. He needed to decide soon enough that they would have time to practice dancing together. Also soon enough that whoever he chose to ask wouldn’t already have a date. Apparently Dean Thomas had asked one of the Beauxbatons girls only to learn that she already had a date. As if he didn’t already have enough to worry about.

Step one he decided was to determine who, if anyone fit the requirements he had for a date. Which in turn lead him to the realization that he first needed to decide what his requirements were. So new step one.

“Let’s see.” He said to himself, seated at his desk in his library. “What do you think girl?’ He asked Hedwig, who had come to visit for the evening. As he hadn’t been sending much mail recently due to having the portals with which to simply visit whenever he had information to pass, or a desire to chat. Hedwig barked at him and nibbled his ear. “You’re right girl, she should be someone who likes me, not the boy who lived.” He made a note to that effect.

“Maybe she should be pretty.” Loki offered from the corner where he was perched on a bookshelf.

“Sure but that seems a bit generic.” Harry replied. “I think I should be more direct about what I consider pretty. Like, do I prefer blondes or redheads.” He hmmed and hawed for a moment before continuing. “Nope, not sure I care about hair colour, or eye colour for that matter. What’s important to me is more, does she not look like a troll. Given the appearance of some people, I think that there are some who like that, but I’m not one of them. I think I care more about personality, and how does she treat me.”

“Well that points to Luna and Hermione.” Loki said. “Unless you go the other way.” He trailed off.

“The other way?” Harry shot his familiar a confused look, while stroking Hedwig’s feathers.

“You know, you could take the twins.” Loki answered with a grin.

Harry snorted. “Nope, not my type. Hmm, you really think Luna or Hermione? I mean their sort of like sisters. That seems kind of sketchy doesn’t it?”

Hedwig barked again, and preened her humans hair. “The birds right.” Loki cackled. “You’re too picky. They aren’t actually related to you, go for it. Besides, haven't you seen one of them naked already?”

Harry blushed at the memory that question evoked. He had recalled the first time he had seen Luna like that. In the tent, her on his lap. Then she stood up, and… His mind went blank again filled with thoughts of a naked Luna sitting on his lap.

“See, there you go, that’s all you need to think about. Now go get her.” Loki screamed, barely holding in his giggles. Hedwig bobbed her head and barked.

“All right, all right. I’ll do it. She’s already a target anyway, so at least I won’t have to worry about changing that.” Harry collapsed, agreeing with his animal friends.

That decided, he just had to figure out how to go about it. Determining that he might need some help with this he dropped a quick kiss on Hedwig’s head and waved to Loki as he headed out of the library.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Longest chapter yet. Actually, longest in the entire work, I think. I thought about breaking it up, but I like the flow, so I left it.
> 
> I'm almost finished writing this story, and if my math is correct it should all be posted by mid December.
> 
> Unfortunately, that leads to a small problem. I have four stories in my head vying for attention, and I can't decide which one to write next. So I'm asking for a little help. What would you like to read next?
> 
> 1) Pirate Harry (In which Harry is adopted from the Dursley's by a retired American Naval Captain. He grows up in the U.S. with extended family, helping out in their "salvage" business. He will still attend Hogwarts, simply with a much more well rounded and open personality.
> 
> 2) Harry runs away a bit earlier third year, instead of going to Diagon Alley he runs off with Padfoot to begin his new life as an outlaw. Haven't decided yet whether he will return to Hogwarts in that one, though it is most likely.
> 
> 3) Pure self-indulgent fantasy. Harry and friends cast a spell to get help against the death eaters. This is during the summer in OOTP at Grimmauld Place. Instead of the answers appearing before them, or gaining super powers as they expected. A person is pulled form another reality, someone who knows what they need to win. Self-insert, though I will try hard not to be O.P. rather just exploring how I would handle the circumstance. The purely self-indulgent part being that I get give myself magic!
> 
> 4) Exploration piece. I got the idea in part form my own rambling thoughts as I read the books, and in part from a fic I read recently. Self-insert as Harry Potter. What would I actually do different in Harry's position, rather than the rants I throw at the books when reading them? For example, according to Pottermore, I'm a Hufflepuff. Though at eleven, I think I would probably have been a RavenDor, or possibly a SlytherClaw.
> 
> Cast your vote either by comment or message, I don't care which. I'll keep a count and once I've finished writing this story, I'll see which one wins. Depending on which it is, I may start posting right away with a slow update schedule. Or I may do like this one and get most of it written before I start posting. Just depends on how much I can get written out right away, and how much of a sense I have on how long it will take to finish.


	58. Chapter 58

“Sirius!” He called when the man entered the room a few hours later. It had taken most of the day to arrange the meeting. After classes he had come to the island and sent a patronus message to the man that he needed to talk. It had taken him forever and a couple of days to finally show up.

Harry waved for the man to join him on the balcony, handing him a fruity drink. “So what's up pup?” Sirius asked as the two lowered themselves onto a pair of deck chairs.

“How do you ask a girl out?” Harry blurted, leaving subtlety behind. He needed help, and he didn’t have a lot of time to beat around the bush.

Sirius stared at him for a long moment, then burst out laughing. This seemed to have become the man’s default setting of late. He was constantly laughing, often at Harry it seemed. “Oh pup. You just ask silly. Who do you have in mind?” He managed to gasp out between guffaws.

“I can’t just ask Sirius. This is a major event, I need to do something special.” Harry replied looking a bit crestfallen.

Sirius sobered up at that. “Special huh? Well that’s different. What kind of special? Do you want to draw attention? Or keep it a secret?” He asked, winking at Harry.

“I’m not sure. I’m usually kind of flashy, but she likes to keep things simple. So, maybe something in between?” Harry replied with a bit of uncertainty.

“Hmm, I’m not too good at the in between ideas. Mooney would be the better person to ask for help with that. He was always kind of low key.” Sirius held up his wand. “Do you want me to call him?” Harry nodded and the dog man summoned his Patronus. “Message to Mooney. Pup needs your advice, we’re in his room.” The great silver dog bounded silently away.

“You really think he’ll know what to do?” Harry asked while they waited.

They didn’t have to wait long though. Before Sirius could answer, the door opened and Remus strode in calling. “I wondered how long it would take for Padfoot to admit he’s helpless without me.”

“Yeah, pup, I’m sure.” Sirius said solemnly, responding to Harry’s question while ignoring Mooney.

“Hey Mooney.” Harry called back to his favorite werewolf. “Grab yourself a drink and join us.”

It took a minute for Remus to do as instructed, but soon enough he was seating himself on a deck chair, fruity drink in hand.

“So, what did I miss?” Asked the greying marauder.

With a few quick words, and interruptions, Harry and Sirius filled Remus in on the problem. “Hmm, that’s a tricky one Harry.” Remus began. “It would help to know who the girl is. It’s always better to plan the approach with the girl in mind, the more you can cater to her interests, the more likely you are to get a yes.”

Harry went red, and tried to avoid his honorary uncles eyes. Then he had to look away again, as his godfather was also looking gleeful. “Damn you both to the pits of tartarus.” He mumbled under his breath. “Alright, its, its umm.” He stumbled.

Remus reached over and laid a hand over Harry’s. “It’s okay Harry, just relax. We won’t think any less of you, and we’re here to help. Just tell us.”

As Harry looked into the molten chocolate eyes he relaxed enough to reveal the answer. “Luna.” He managed before his throat closed up again, and he had to practice some deep breathing to get himself under control. What was wrong with him, he wondered, his emotions were all over the place today.

“Luna, as in Luna Lovegood?” Sirius asked. After receiving a glaring nod from Harry he continued. “Hmm, I didn’t see that coming. Though I suppose maybe I should have. You two are pretty close, and you seem a bit more comfortable around her than you do anyone else.”

“Regardless, if that’s who Harry wants to take, then we help him.” Remus cut off his best friend. “So, do you need all the help, Harry? Or just a little?”

“Umm, I guess all of it. I don’t even know how to start.” Harry said sheepishly, having unlocked his throat at last.

“Oh, well, you have to start by getting her attention.” Sirius howled. “I’ve a great idea. First you. Ow.”

Remus had hit him with a rolled newspaper he had conjured. “Down boy.” He said. “Harry already has Luna’s attention, there’s no need for him to do anything crazy.”

“But, but.” Sirius was scrunching his face into a pained expression of hurt feelings, then leaned over to whisper something in Remus’ ear. The two got a far off look, as though they were seeing something many miles away.

Then they turned back to Harry identical innocent grins plastered in place. “Oh sweet merciful gods of pranking, please don’t destroy my chances of a good evening.” Harry intoned in a voice of utter dread. The two older pranksters promptly fell off their seats in paroxysms of joy.

The planning for Harry to invite Luna to the ball, took most of the night.

The morning was bright, and breakfast under the dawn sky was gorgeous. Lit with shades of pink, and magenta, thanks to the late winter morning. Harry had a plan, but it needed to wait until dinner. He had a distraction, and an offering, to prepare.

Classes dragged by slowly. The only thing Harry seemed able to think about was the plan, every time he opened his course books, images of dancing with Luna seemed to fill the pages. When he tried to do a spell for the teachers, it kept morphing itself into music, or dancing clouds of wispy vapor.

Finally at long last, the dinner bell rang, and Harry was able to rush down to the great hall to wait for his hopefully date to appear, and for his distraction to get started.

Of course, things couldn’t go smoothly. It started with the twins dragging him over to sit with them at the Gryffindor table, while Hermione joined Luna at Ravenclaw. The twins wanted to chat about dates to the ball of course, and were trying to advise him on who to ask. They seemed to have the insane idea that he should ask Parvati Patil, one of the Gryffindor girls in his year. And they had even gotten her in on the idea, she had her hair done in a pattern that mimicked Fleurs for the first task. She was even wearing some kind of perfume that wafted off of her, as though she had bathed in the stuff. While it smelled nice, it was overpowering, and made Harry’s head swim.

When his distraction started he was glad of the opportunity to move away from the table. Up at the teachers table, there was some odd movement going on. Professor Flitwick was offering his hand to Professor Sprout. Professor Mcgonagal was being helped to her feet by Professor Vector. Professor Dumbledore was pulling a reluctant looking Karkaroff to his feet, while Hagrid and Madame Maxime were beginning to sway gently in each others arms. Down at the far end of the table, Professor Snape was bowing to Professor Synystra, while Professor Babbling offered her hand to Mister Filch. The head table vanished just as the music began to filter into the Hall, and the teachers all began to dance. Slowly at first but gaining speed as they went.

Within moments the students were on their feet, many joining in the fun, others simply watching the show.

Harry however was moving. In order for this to work, he had to get to Luna before the dancing stopped. He only had a few minutes before the potion he had slipped in the drinks at the high table wore off.

Hermione apparently had decided to join in the fun. He passed her as she was being twirled around by a laughing Kevin Entwhistle, but where was Luna. There, she was carefully making her way to the end of the Ravenclaw table, where a small group of first years were gawking around in bewilderment.

He had to push his way through two crowds of laughing, and dancing students, apologising as he went in order to reach her. When he managed to get to her side, he swept her into a turn. “May I have this dance?” He asked, as he spun her about.

Giggling she smiled. “Why yes Harry, you may.” She responded.

A few quick turns and they reached an open space near the wall, and in such a position that most of the hall would be looking directly away from them. He stopped there and drew the small orchid from his inner pocket. “Luna, I’d like for you to accompany me to the Yule Ball.” He said, gazing at the flower, not daring to look the girl in the eye, fear that she would reject him, or that he was too late, and she already had a date, making his voice quaver.

A tiny delicate finger rose under his chin, and with gentle pressure brought his head up, until he was caught in her silver stare. She smiled gently, took the orchid from his unresisting fingers, and brought it up to sniff at its aroma. “Yes Harry, I’d be glad to go with you.” She whispered, mischief dancing in her eyes.

It was like someone had turned the sound back on. He hadn’t realized that he had blocked out everything around him, except her. But with her acceptance, the world came crashing back in. The teachers had stopped dancing, and a few of them were looking rather embarrassed. Snape looked like he wanted to murder someone, while Dumbledore was casting a disapointed look around the room. Slowly everyone made their way back to their seats. The remainder of the meal was rather tense, but at least no one was trying to convince Harry to ask anyone to the ball. And when it was over, he was able to tell his friends that he had a date.

Over the next few days, it became clear that not everyone was pleased with Harry Potter's choice of date for the ball. But at least most of them were being respectful about it, and merely made comments to their friends, rather than to him, or Luna.

Eventually, classes let out, the younger year students left for the holiday, and the castle was decorated for the ball. Christmas day dawned bright and snowy, there was a small pile of presents at the foot of Harry’s bed and he made quick work of them.

He got the usual jumper from Mrs. Weasley, a bright blue this year but just as soft and warm as ever, an assortment of sweets, and several new books from his friends. 

Most of the morning was spent in an epic snowball fight, which included most of the Durmstrang students, as well as a large portion of the Hogwarts students, and even a few of the Beauxbatons students.

Shortly after lunch though, the girls all vanished, stating that they had to get ready for the ball. Ron Weasley was heard asking Seamus Finnigan. “Why do they need so long?” Harry wondered that himself, but decided to ignore the question, in favor of his latest attempt to bury his redheaded best friends in snow.

Some hours later, the boys called the snow war a draw and headed in to get ready themselves.

Harry’s dress robes had taken forever, and just arrived a few days before the ball by owl. He had decided to go with a new style, combining muggle and wizard fashion. He had worked with Madam Malkin to design a set of dress robes that mimicked a muggle tuxedo, in part. Thus his robes were a deep black, trimmed in velvet, with a crimson rose, and sapphire accents. He had also gotten a corsage for Luna, a rose to match his own, coupled with a spray of sky blue baby’s breath. He felt it looked quite nice, and hoped that it went well with Luna’s outfit. Which was a bit of a question, as he hadn’t seen her outfit yet.

He was waiting in the common room, along with his dormmates Terry and Anthony, who were waiting for their own dates, Padma Patil, and Orla Quirk, respectively.

Orla was the first to arrive, her bright honey coloured hair done up in a tight bun that left her long slender neck on display. Padma was only a few steps behind her, dark skin richly accented by her colourful robes, showing off her Indian heritage. But when Luna came down, all eyes turned to her. She had curled her dirty blonde hair so that it hung about her face in a cascade that somehow simultaneously reminded Harry of a waterfall, and sunlight through clouds. The rainbow ribbon she had wound through it, only added to the effect. Her robes were a sea foam green, fading to a silvery blue at the hem and sleeves, which almost made her appear as a mobile column of sea spray. And she had done something with her face, that accentuated her eyes, and lips. Harry couldn’t tell what it was, but he knew he had never before seen anyone look so beautiful as Luna did in that moment.

Stepping forward he offered her his arm, unsure of whether he would be able to speak, he didn’t even try. He merely led her to the exit and away from the gawking faces of their fellow Ravenclaws.

When they reached the entrance hall they were stopped by Mcgonagall, who had the Champions lined up ready to enter. “Over here you two.” She called as they came into view. “You four will be entering together in just a few minutes. Please wait here until it's time.”

“Good evening.” Krum’s voice called from behind the dour looking woman. He was again in what looked to be a formal version of the usual Durmstrang robes, a deep crimson, lined in black. His date was one of the Beauxbatons girls, who wore a lovely sea blue silk cascade of gowns. Beside them, Fleur had her silver hair down, flowing in waves over her shoulder. Her date, Roger Davies was looking rather trout slapped, possibly at his luck in having Fleur as his date. Next in line was Cedric and his date Cho Chang, a rather pretty Ravenclaw a year above Harry. They had chosen to dress in their house colours. Cedric in black and gold, Chang in blue and bronze.

There was little time for conversation though, as a moment later the great doors opened and they were ushered forward. The great hall had been transformed. The usual dozen christmas trees were in place, but that was the only thing recognizable in the decorations. The usual long tables had been replaced by many small round tables, at which the students were sat, while the teachers table had been expanded as that was where the Champions would be seated.

Mcgonagall led the Champions and their dates up to the head table where they were quickly seated. Harry was sat next to Percy Weasley, whom he hadn’t seen since the beginning of the summer, as he had taken a job at the Ministry.

“Percy.” Harry beamed as he stretched out a hand to the older boy.

“Harry.” Percy replied, a bit dryly, as he took the offered hand and shook it once.

“It’s good to see you Perce.” Harry continued, not noticing the tone. “You’ve been so busy. We missed you all summer.” 

The older boy did look a bit sheepish at that. “Ah, yes, well. There was a thing. I’d rather not go into it here.”

A look of confusion had slowly spread over the young Potter’s face, but with those words he wiped it clear. “Right, special occasion. So what brings you here tonight then? I didn’t know you were part of the tournament delegation?” He used his tone and inflection to make the statement into a question.

Smiling, the older redhead nodded. “Normally I wouldn’t be. I work for mister Crouch, who unfortunately took ill, and asked me to attend in his place. He often gets me to do things like this for him, knows he can trust me.” He winked at his surrogate younger brother.

“Wow, that’s excellent Perce. To be so well trusted by your boss must be satisfying.” Percy smiled broadly and nodded.

“It is quite nice to be appreciated. Most people have been rather dismissive of me in general.”

“That sucks Perce. You deserve to be appreciated. Is it your age that has them ignoring you?”

Looking thoughtful, Percy seemed to consider his reply. “In part yes. But I think mostly it’s about family. Blood status isn’t the only thing certain people discriminate against.”

“I keep hoping that will change, but I guess its too much for people to wake up and see whats right in front of them.” Harry said, a bit sadly.

Their discussion was interrupted by the arrival of dinner. Harry noted that all around people were speaking to their plates. Beside him, Luna leaned over from her conversation with Fleur to say to her plate, “Ratatouille.” A moment later her plate was filled with a dish of rice, vegetables, and sausage, that smelled quite nice.

Percy picked up what appeared to be a menu, and made a selection of his own. Understanding finally seeped through Harry and he reached for the menu sat on his own plate. After making his selection he joined the rest of the table in eating, interspersed with conversation.

The meal seemed to pass quickly, and almost before he had fully registered that the tables had been pushed back in order to reveal a dance floor, Luna was pulling him from the table. The Champions made their way out to the platform as the music began to swell. In moments he found himself moving with the rhythm of the band, and the notes of a simple waltz played. Luna was like a dream in his arms, moving with him, rotating about the floor. He forgot that anyone else was in the room, he forgot that he was still faced with two immense challenges, he even forgot that somewhere outside, there was an insane madman intent on his blood. For the space of a single dance, there was only himself and Luna, nothing else could penetrate the happy bubble that seemed to encompass them as they danced.

Then of course, the world had to intrude. As the dance came to an end, the music changed. The band Dumbledore had hired for the evening, the Weird Sisters, shifted into their more usual melodies, reminiscent of eighties rock and roll, rather than the more somber chamber music of the wider wizarding world. And the dance became more frenetic, while the floor filled with people. While still fun, Harry found it to be less focused than his dance with Luna.

The wild frenetic dancing, laughing and high spirits lasted for only a few hours, yet it seemed to buoy everyone's mood for several days. For almost a week after the ball itself, Harry could overhear conversations about who wore what, and who danced with who, and how many kisses were shared. Conversations that seemed to take place between everyone, from first years to teachers.

He looked back often during that week on his favorite moment of the evening. Back in the common room, saying goodnight to Luna. Just before they parted, she had leaned up and kissed his cheek, then run off up the stairs to the girls dorms, before he could react. It had, in a way, been like that night in the tent. He hadn’t stood there dumbfounded for any length of time, thankfully. He had though, sat on his bed, with the curtains drawn, wondering what, if anything, it had meant, for a long time before sleep took him.


	59. Chapter 59

As January was passing into February, one of the Alliance projects finally reached it’s point of revelation. It was time to tell everyone about the paintball guns. Which also meant, it was time to get everyone’s agreement to keep secrets, in writing.

The entire junior Alliance were invited to attend a meeting on the island, where many of their parents, and older siblings would be for an evening. Only a few abstained, citing homework.  
The meeting took place in one of the meeting halls of the hotel, which had been magically expanded for the day, so as to accommodate the enormous number of people present.

The first hour was spent allowing families to reconnect, as most of them had been unable to visit over the holidays due to students remaining in the castle for the Yule Ball. Eventually though, the crowd settled, and had attention to spare for the announcements.

The first was presented by Harden Hardy. “Good evening everyone. I imagine many of you have guessed, or heard rumours of, what tonight is about. Tonight we will be demonstrating the first of the tools which will aid us in achieving victory over the bigots who have allowed our world to fall so far into backwards habits. However, before we get to that, I want to tell you all a story. It’s a story many, perhaps even most of you, have heard before. This story comes from the end of the last war against Tom Riddle, and his group of madmen. The year, was 1980. A prophecy was heard, by Albus Dumbledore, and Severus Snape. Snape, only heard the first three lines, which he told to Riddle. This began a campaign to murder a newborn. Dumbledore, and Riddle both, assumed this prophecy to be not only real, but all important. The three lines that Riddle heard, were thus. The one with the power to vanquish the dark lord approaches, born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies. Now many of you will assume that this refers to Harry Potter.” He paused here to point the young man out, and many faces turned to him. “Others, will recall, that Neville Longbottom, was also born at the end of July.” Again he paused to point to the young man in question. “However, it may not refer to them, as there are many hundreds, if not thousands, of people who were born at the end of July. And thrice defied, could refer to a lot of different things. The Potters certainly stood against Riddle in far more than three ways, and far more than three times, as did the Longbottoms. So if you take that part literally, than this prophecy can not refer to either of them. All of that however, is irrelevant. We are thinking adults, not cowering children. We do not leave a fourteen year old to fight our battles for us. We will stand against the darkness that threatens our homes and families. When a wild animal comes in the night to steal away our children, we don’t send the youngest to fight. We do it ourselves.” He was forced to pause as a cheer went through the crowd. “Thank you, moving on. Riddle sought to destroy what he saw as a threat to his goals. Dumbledore, sought to protect. The Potters used a special kind of ward, called the Fidelius. One of the things that makes it so special, is the inclusion of a secret keeper. This keeper is a person, and so long as that person lives, only they can disclose the secret to another. This means, that so long as the secret keeper guards the secret, those within the ward, are safe. The Potters, chose as their secret keeper, their friend Peter Pettigrew. They did not do so at first. As I understand it, they used more traditional means of hiding at first, and these were effective, but wearing on the family. Moving every week or two takes a toll, especially with an infant. So in October of 1981 they went under the Fidelius in Godric’s Hollow. A week later they died. Peter Pettigrew, their friend, someone they had known since they were eleven years old. Someone who had dined with them, held their son in his arms, someone they trusted. Sold their secret to a madman who wanted to murder them, for a song.” Many of the faces in the crowd now looked scared, or sad, and many a pitying look was sent Harry’s way. “This could have been avoided, by the simple expedient of having their secret keeper swear a vow to only reveal the secret to those the Potters chose. So, in order to avoid such betrayals, we have a similar plan.” He motioned to the side, and Remus stepped up holding a stack of papers. “These, are magical agreements, which everyone will sign before we continue. They state simply that we are agreeing not to tell anyone who is not an acknowledged member of the Alliance, meaning that they have signed one of these, about our tactics or tools. That we will not share information with our enemies. Anyone who refuses to sign will be evicted from this meeting, and possibly from the Alliance in total.” He paused to accept a sheet from Remus, which he quickly scanned and signed, and then held up. “As you can see, I have signed. We will be keeping these filed here, they will be viewable by any of us upon request. Each of these agreements, contains a strong compulsion, similar to a vow, to keep our secrets. I won’t say they can’t be broken, only that it would be immediately obvious if it were. Even veritaserum failed to release the information protected by this agreement, until our tester chose to reveal the information. Which in the case of the test, was simply the color of a paint sample, splashed across his face. When you sign, you are agreeing to be bound by this compulsion. So be sure of your intent. Remus.” He motioned to the man again, who promptly moved into the crowd, handing out copies of the agreement.

It took almost two hours to get through everyone, with huddles of groups reading over the agreement together, asking questions, and finally signing.

When all of the agreements were signed and collected Remus returned to his seat and the floor was once again taken by Hardy.

“Excellent now that’s dealt with, let’s get on to the fun part.” The following hour was a flurry of demonstrating the paintball guns, how to switch between chambers, a quick tutorial on firing, and a demonstration of what each of the various loads would do. Credit was given to Harry as the inventor, who then pointed out that several others had been involved in the actual enchanting, as he didn’t have time to make more than a few, and still get his homework done. Which got a load of laughter from the crowd.

The final bit of business for the evening was the arrangement of a training schedule for those who were interested in being part of what was being called the forward team. Simply put, those who would go into battle first. Others were gathering into groups, discussing other aspects of the campaign, which they found more interesting, such as those who would be dealing with injuries, morale, or tactics. Harry was pleased to see Ron, the twins younger brother, talking with Hardy and a few other veterans about the tactical team.

As the meeting was closing, and everyone said their goodbyes, Harry was approached by four people with an idea.

Luna and Xeno led the group, followed by a woman he guessed to be in her twenties, and one of the Ravenclaw girls he barely ever spoke to, Sophy Roper.

“Harry,” Luan began excitedly. “Sophy and her aunt have a great idea that you need to hear about. Daddy and I are going to finance them, but they need your help with convincing some people.”

“Umm, okay. Well, what can I do then?” Harry slowly replied.

The unknown woman took a step forward and offered her hand. “Hello, I’m Emily Strodder. As Luna said, this is my niece, Sophy. It was quite a surprise when she got her letter, we’re both muggleborn, if you couldn’t guess. Anyway, we had an idea. Initially it was just a new concept for magical entertainment, a way to get movies, and tele to the wizards. But then this tournament started and we wondered if we couldn’t use it for that, as like a reporting tool.” She paused and dug around in a pocket, bringing out a small silver sphere. “This is a recording sphere, works kind of like a muggle camera, except it can pick up images from all around itself. These can then be transmitted, rather like the tele. With a bit of tinkering, we could get them to transmit directly, like at a sports match. I was thinking it might make for better viewing for the audience. Especially if any of the tasks include the Champions doing something out of sight, or if the audience has vision problems, such as needing glasses. Sophy is hoping to be a reporter one day, and she said the only problem with the first task was that some of the action was hard to see, because of how far from the action the audience was.”

“I was thinking I could expand on it later too. I don’t really like the idea of fighting but I want to do something to help. I was thinking maybe I could document everything, so we would have a record if we needed it.” Sophy said in a quiet voice.

“That’s a great idea Sophy.” Harry smiled. “And I love the viewing idea for the tournament. We’ve already figured out the next task has something to do with water. I think we’re going to have to swim down to the bottom of the lake, which would be useless to watch. But with these, we could have one follow each of the Champions, and show what they’re doing on a screen near the audience, and record the event to be broadcast later. Do you have a magical tele designed yet?”

A look of surprised joy spread over both women’s faces as Emily answered. “Not yet, we’ve been experimenting, and we have a working prototype, but we don’t really like the look of it. We should have something by spring time though.”

“And we will be happy to help out in whatever way we can.” Xeno jumped to offer. “This is exciting, it’s been a long time since something new was on offer in the magical world.”

“Okay, well, that brings us back to what we need you for Harry.” Emily got hold of the conversation again. “We need help convincing the Champions, and judges to allow it. Can you help with that?”

“Hmm, the Champions will be easy. The judges a little less so. But with all four of us together, I think we can manage. I’ll talk to Cedric in a bit, and we’ll track down Fleur and Viktor in the morning. Keep in mind that the next task is in two weeks, so you’ll need to be ready by then.”

“Okay, send me an owl as soon as you know. Once we have confirmation that we can do it, we’ll get everything ready.” Emily nodded offering her hand to shake once more, which Harry eagerly accepted before leaving in search of Cedric.

Cedric happily agreed with the idea, and they found the other two Champions as soon as they could. Fleur agreed, a bit confusedly. Krum, on the other hand, was eager to see the effect and offered to put the pair in contact with the world quidditch league if they got it working.

As expected the discussion about bringing the idea to the tournament, with the judges was not as easy as it had been with the Champions. However, with all four of them agreed, and with the backing of at least one of the reporters involved, the judges did eventually agree.

The morning of the second task, was bright, but chilly. The breeze threatened to freeze Harry’s eye lashes as he and his fellow Champions made their way down to the beach. The stands which had surrounded the dragon enclosure for the first task, had been moved down to the lake and were slowly filling with spectators. Four large viewing screens had been set up above the lake, but were currently dark. As Bagman began telling the audience about the task, Crouch and Sophy Roper were positioning the Champions. Sophy held four of the silver spheres, which she activated and hung behind each of the Champions. One of the screens came to life each time one of them was readied, and offered a view of what was happening near the Champions.

Harry was the last to be positioned at the end of the line of Champions on the beach, and as he settled his breathing he finally began to make out what Bagman was saying.

“So, our Champions will have one hour to seek what was taken from them. Champions, on my whistle you may proceed.” He raised a silver whistle to his lips and blew.

Krum threw his robes off and ran for the water, waving his wand around his head. Cedric, and Fleur did likewise, though Harry barely noticed. He was busy with his own plan, he vaguely noted that all three of his competitors had dove into the lake and vanished beneath the waves.

At the edge of the water he transfigured a rock into a small boat, just big enough for two. Two more quick waves of the wand and he had a set of oars. Planting himself in the boat he began to row, as swiftly as he could towards the center.

Twenty minutes later he reached what he guessed to be the middle of the lake. Pulling off the heavy outer robe he pulled up the hood of his dive suit. A quick bubble head charm was enough to allow him to breathe, and grabbing the anchor he leaned out and allowed himself to fall into the water.

The trip down was interesting, the water here was colder than what he was used to on the island, though thanks to his dry suit, and bubblehead, he barely noticed. It was also, darker, the water more murky, either there was simply more silt here, or perhaps it had been churned up recently. For a heartstopping moment he recalled the giant squid and wondered if he was seeing the remnants of its nearby passage. At one point of his descent he saw a dark shape looming ahead of him, but it was thankfully only a sunken log.

Finally he began to see light ahead of him in the darkness, and sound began to reach him. Song, with many voices, which mirrored the clue from the egg.

“Your times half gone, so tarry not, less what you seek, stays here to rot.”

Small houses came into view, with merfolk wandering about. One house had a grindylow, leashed in the yard, rather like a family pet. And in the center, near where he thought he would land, a large statue of a merperson. And tied to the tail of it, four people. Harry recognized Cho Chang, and Krum’s date, whose name he never bothered to ask, and Luna. There was also a little silver haired girl, much younger than the others, who Harry thought must be Fleurs younger sister. Not wanting to waste time, Harry pulled his knife from his belt and cut Luna free of her bindings. Nodding to a nearay merman who seemed to be standing guard over the captives, Harry activated the rune on his boots which turned them into fins, and began to swim upward, following the line of his anchor.

Five minutes it took to reach the surface, and as soon as they were above water, Luna gasped.  
“Oh my, this is very wet, and cold. I think I could use a warming charm.” She said airily.

Grinning, Harry maneuvered them to the boat. “One warming charm coming up, it’s a bit of a trip back to shore.”

It was a bit of a struggle getting them both back into the boat and getting the anchor up. But Luna sighed happily when he cast warming and drying charms on the both of them, then set a warming charm on the bottom of the boat before taking up the oars again.

“You know, there’s a propulsion spell you could use to get us back to land. It would be much faster. I don’t think I’m allowed to help though, and I don’t have my wand anyway.” Luna said to a passing fish as Harry struggled with the oars.

“Damn, I should have thought of that.” Harry cursed. “What’s the spell?”

“Oh, it’s propulsus, I think, or something like that anyway.” Luna responded, looking surprised to see him.

Turning to the back of the boat, Harry raised his wand and tried. “Propulsus.” A moment later they were rocketing across the lake as though they were in ski boat, rather than the simple rowboat they were. Which changed the return to land from the twenty minutes it had taken him to reach the middle of the lake to a mere six minutes to get back.

As they stepped from the boat, Madam Pomfrey appeared, wrapping them in heavy blankets, and pushing pepper up potions to them. The steam rising from their ears made Harry giggle. Though he told Luna it was because it tickled.

A few minutes later and they were surprised to see Fleur being drug out of the lake. Apparently she had run afoul of a pack of grindylows and had been unable to continue. It was only after she had been sat down with Harry and Luna that she learned the identity of her hostage. She began to panic, and Harry offered to go after the young girl. But they were assured by headmaster Dumbledore that the girl would be fine, and would be retrieved at the conclusion of the task.

A bit later, Krum, and then Cedric arrived, both carrying their hostages, and they too were given into Madam Pomfrey’s care.

A few minutes after that, a group of merfolk rose from the water, and Dumbledore went to speak with them, returning with the young veela, who after being dried and warmed was introduced as Gabrielle.

As Harry was shaking hands with the girl, Dumbledore rose and cast a sonorous.

“Excellent, well done everyone. After a brief discussion we now have the scores. First to miss Fleur Delacoeur who was unable to complete the task, we award twenty five points.”

“I deserve zero.” Fleur proclaimed, hugging her little sister tightly.

“Second, to mister Cedric Diggory, who arrived fifteen minutes outside of the time limit, we award thirty five points.” Cedric smiled and waved to the crowd. “Third to mister Viktor Krum, who arrived second, and only two minutes outside the time limit. We award forty points.” Viktor scowled, but waved nonetheless. “And finally to mister Harry Potter, who arrived first, and well within the time limit, we award forty five points.” Harry too waved to the crowd, but snuggled back under the blanket he and Luna were wrapped in quickly, as it was still very cold.

Dumbledore still had more to say, but Harry tuned it out as his thoughts turned to a hot meal, and maybe spending the rest of the day under this blanket, in front of a roaring fire. Preferably with Luna snuggled against him, it was he thought, a very comfortable position.

“I’d like that too.” Luna whispered, making him realize he had voiced the thought out loud. In the end they were forced to get up and return to the castle, where they were asked to retell their adventure several times throughout the day. Though they were at least allowed to settle in front of a fire. Harry wondered briefly if he should be seeking out his fellow Champions in order to discuss the task, as they had done before, but realized they likely had similar ideas on how to spend the day to his own. There would be time tomorrow to chat.

The meeting between the Champions went much the same as that which followed the first task. With the small change that instead of watching each others memories, they instead watched the recordings from the roving eyes, as the spheres had been named.

After a brief discussion, all four agreed that the judging was fair, and that they had each done a decent enough job at the task, while commiserating with Fleur over her poor luck in running into a large enough pack of grindylows that she had been unable to fight them off effectively. Cedric commented that it looked like nearly every grindylow in the lake, it was more of a swarm than a pack.

It took a couple of days for the furor over the second task to begin to settle down. However it was quickly overtaken by a different kind of furor. The following weekend was scheduled as a Hogsmeade weekend, and as an added bonus. It was just in time for Valentines day. Harry was of the opinion that the coordinators had planned that. Most of the Champions had been set to rescue their dates from the Yule Ball, right before the holiday of love.

“Can anyone say setup?” Harry commented to the twins as they were discussing plans for the trip into the village.

“Sackout.” Fred replied and scowled. “Hmm.”

“I’ll try.” George offered. “Lunch time.” Then he scowled too.

“Hmm.” Fred made a noise. “I guess only you can, Harry.”

Harry threw an eraser at the grinning redheads. “Screw you prats. So who are you taking to Hogsmeade?”

“Katie and Angelina.” Fred replied. “You taking Luna?”

“Yeah, not sure what we’re gonna do, other than the usual. Are we meeting for lunch?” Harry said, a soft smile playing across his lips.

George smirked and waggled his eyebrows at Harry. “Ah look Fred, he’s going all gooey eyed.”

“Indeed he is brother. I do believe this calls for something joyous.” Fred replied with a grin growing across his face.

“I’ve got my eye on you two.” Harry mock glared at his favorite pranksters. “If anything strange happens, it better be something that enhances the day.” He narrowed his eyes a little more for effect. For a moment he considered wagging his finger at them, but decided that would be over the top.

At breakfast the day of the Hogsmeade visit, Harry was regretting his choice to leave the twins to their own devices. They had somehow convinced the elves to prepare heart shaped pancakes, and add little hearts formed from cinnamon to the apple cider they were serving. Then, halfway through the meal, confetti fell from the ceiling. Tiny, glittering hearts, of red and pink, and the air was filled with the scents of strawberries and cream. All together it made for a very romantic atmosphere, and Harry, along with many others, slowly developed a sort of dreamy feeling, and found himself smiling goofily at Luna.

The walk down to the village was filled with discussion of classes, which were somehow funny, despite having been droll at the time. Harry and Luna became so absorbed that they barely noticed the twins next to them talking quidditch with their dates, or Hermione, a couple of steps behind, discussing some obscure aspect of arithmancy with her date. Somewhere further back in the line, or was it ahead, Neville and Susan were walking with Ron and Hannah, but that was so far outside of Harry’s immediate concern that it only just registered as something that was happening.

When they reached the village, the group separated. Hermione and her date, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Harry felt a momentary pang of guilt for not noticing sooner that she had begun dating the muggleborn Hufflepuff, headed off to Scrivenshafts, Hermione needed to replace some of her writing supplies. The twins linked arms with their dates and strolled off toward Zonko’s. But again, Harry and Luna only just noticed, they were busy meandering in the direction of Honeydukes, the sweet shop, visions of sugary treats dancing in their eyes.

Honeydukes was an experience. Shelves lined the walls, groaning with chilly ice mice, and packages of tooth flossing string mints. Bins lined the center isles, filled with chocolate frogs, frozen comets, and bertie botts every flavor beans. There was even a section devoted to “unorthodox tastes” where a selection of unusual treats could be found. Cockroach cluster, blood flavored lollies, acid drops, and the like.

After a bit of browsing, the smiling couple grabbed a selection of treats and moved to their next stop.

The morning passed in a pleasant haze of browsing and chatting. The two held hands, and wandered the small village, chatting about the curiosity of dating, and how the various adults in their lives might react when they heard.

When it came time for lunch the couple made their way to the three broomsticks, the pub in the town square. Fred and George were already there, Katie Bell and Angelina Johnson seated with them, arms entwined with their dates.

“Hey guys.” Harry half yelled over the dull roar of the crowd, as he approached the table.

Fred pulled a chair out, while George waved his wand to move a second into place next to it. “Join us love birds.” The two said together. The girls sharing a smile.

Harry offered Luna the first seat, and went to get drinks for the two of them. When he got back to the table, the three girls were whispering rapidly, and pointing to something below the table. “What’s going on?” Harry asked as he took his seat.

“No clue Harry-kins.” Fred said. “They won’t let us see what their talking about, and being quiet enough that we can’t hear them either.”

“I expect they are plotting our imminent destruction, oh ugly brothers of mine.” George stated calmly, dipping a biscuit in his tea.

“Yours maybe.” Fred said in his mock pompous voice, nose in the air. “I am clearly far too pretty for that.”

“I think you’re both screwed.” Harry smiled at the twins. “I’m cute and adorable, while you two are old, and slow.”

It was, Harry thought to himself, a wonderful feeling, when he could get the twins with a surprise statement. Watching their jaws hit the table as they attempted to process what he had said, made him feel like he could take on the world. He would pay for it later, of course, they would prank him without mercy tomorrow, but that was part of the fun. If he couldn’t handle their retribution, then he had no business sparring with them in the first place.

“Harry-kins. You wound me.” Fred said, clutching at his chest.

“Whatever would our parents say, if they heard you say something like that.” George added.  
They were saved from further sniping by the arrival of Hermione, Justin, Neville, Susan, Ron, and Hannah. There was a short scuffle as they realized there wasn’t enough table to fit everyone, which eventually had to be resolved by Harry, Hermione, and the twins. Harry expanded the table, Hermione duplicated chairs, and the twins expanded the space around them, so they didn’t crowd everyone else.

“Well now, that’s an impressive bit of wand work there.” Called Madam Rosmerta, the owner of the pub, as she reached the table. “How long will it last?”

“If we got it right, the chairs will vanish first, in a little over an hour.” Hermione answered.

“Followed by the table returning to its usual size, about five minutes later.” Continued Harry.

The twins chimed in for the last part, speaking together. “The space five minutes after that.”

“Truly impressive. If you aren’t here when they drop, come by at the end of the day, I’ll let you know if it worked.” She winked at the four friends. “Now, what would you all like for lunch dears?” She held up a note pad and quill, ready to take down their orders.

A round of orders later and Rosmerta was heading back to the kitchen.

“So, how’s everyone’s dates going?” Fred asked, trying for a nonchalant air.

The table lit up from the glow of several blushes, as the friends contemplated their day. Harry however, had seen something in the way Fred asked that got him curious.

“Why do you ask, Fred?” He asked the older boy, trying to put a hint of dragon hide in his voice. He wasn’t sure if he’d gotten it right, but Fred started talking so he chalked it up as a win.

“Just curious Harry-kins.”

“Yeah, it’s not anything to worry about.” George added, a glint in his eye.

“Okay, I saw that.” Hermione stated. “What did you two do?”

“Why, miss Granger. You would accuse us fine upstanding citizens of wrongdoing. I’m offended.” George said in his most pompous voice.

“The air smelled funny at breakfast.” Justin spoke up. “It made me feel, kind of woozy.”

“Yeah.” Susan agreed. “Like I was floating a little, and I really wanted to,” she paused, and blushed almost as red as her hair, “umm, visit with Neville.”

“Me too, except with Ron.” Hannah added, her own blush slightly less noticeable due to the cup of tea she held in front of her face.

“I got that same effect.” Luna whispered, sotto voce, across the table. “I wanted to thank you both. It really helped clear away the dancing blibber bugs.” She reached over and squeezed Harry’s hand as she spoke, and smiled at the twins.

There was a chorus of “come on” and “tell us” from the suddenly clamorous table, as everyone turned beseeching eyes to the twins.

Finally Fred raised his hands in surrender. “Okay, okay. We aerosolized a few drops of untargeted amortentia and released it into the great hall at breakfast. Nothing harmful, it just puts anyone who smells it into a romantic mood. Only lasts for around four or five hours. A bit longer if you’re doing romance stuff, like going on a date.”

“And you dosed the entire great hall?” Neville squeaked.

“Well, yeah.” George grinned. “No reason not to share in the fun.” He leaned over and kissed Katies cheek.

Looking over at Luna, Harry allowed the conversation to flow around him, as he slowly ate his way through his shepherds pie. It was, he thought, a well done prank. And he was happy to be spending time with friends, and even more to have the time with Luna.

Eventually he tuned back in on the discussion, which had moved to quidditch. Lunch was a raucous affair, and they only just managed to avoid a food fight, when Fred and George started trying to lob baby carrots into each others mouths.

An hour later, saw the group parting once more, and Harry and Luna decided to head out to the shrieking shack, for a bit of privacy.

The shack was it’s usual cheerful self. Ancient rotting wood, dilapidated roof, porch falling apart. The muddy yard, unkempt, made a terrible place to sit. So the two found a relatively clean spot near the fence and huddled together. After a few minutes Luna directed Harry to stand leaning on the fence. When he was in the position she wanted, she moved around and pulled out a small polaroid camera. Snapping off a photo, she moved them back to the clean spot they had found, and pulled out a blanket, which she laid on the ground. Indicating for Harry to join her, she took a seat, propping herself against the fence.

Curious, Harry snuggled down next to her, and together they waited for the photo to settle. Eventually it did, and Harry agreed that it was a nice shot. The shack in the background, almost seeming to loom out of the afternoon shadows.

Luna blinked at it for several seconds, before pulling a sketch pad from her bag. Flipping to a clean page she began to draw, apparently using the photo as a model.

“I didn’t know you drew Luna.” Harry said softly.

“Of course I do silly. Though I guess this is the first time I’ve done it where you could see.” She replied in her dreamy tone.

“Do you draw a lot?” Harry asked.

“Depends on what a lot is?” She flipped back to the front of her book and began showing him her sketches. “There’s a few from each year.” And indeed there were. Images of himself, Hermione, the twins, along with the basilisk, the Chamber door, even the statue. Filled the first few pages. Later came images of the site they had visited with her dad, the park they had gone to with the Grangers, roller coasters rising above the entryway, more of himself, and their other friends. Several of various creatures, mostly those that Hagrid had introduced them to. Then it moved to the island, and hotel. Both before and after the repairs. The townhouse on Grimmauld place, again both before and after. Dobby was featured in a couple, one by himself, apparently working on something in the kitchen, and a second, in which he was looking up at Harry in a rather sappy way. She had captured Sirius, looking up at the stars, and a group, which he recognized as a copy of a photo he had in his room at the hotel, of Sirius, Remus, the Grangers, the Weasleys, the Lovegoods, and himself, all on the beach, the hotel in the background.

He pointed to the last. “This is amazing Luna. I can see all the details. Everyone is so vivid, it almost seems like their about to start moving.” She blushed and lowered her head.

“There are charms, and a potion, to make that happen. But it’s usually only used with paints, or photos. I started trying it out on some of my paintings, but I haven’t tried it with anything that complex yet.” She whispered to her hands.

Placing a finger under her chin, Harry raised her head until her eyes met his. “Luna, that's wonderful. Would you let me see? Could I convince you to make one of this image for me?” He pointed to the group image. “That would look amazing on the wall of my room in the hotel. My whole family, always there. A reminder that I don’t ever have to be alone again.” He felt something in his eyes, a sort of thickening sensation, as though the orbs themselves were growing. His vision blurred, and a moment later he realized what it was. Tears were spilling over slowly, as he thought of the family, he never thought he would have.

Luna reached up and brushed away the first tear, then leaned forward to lay her lips on his cheek. “I’d be happy to, Harry. I don’t know if I can do it justice though. I’m really a novice when it comes to painting. I’ll try though.”

“Thank you Luna.” He wanted to say more, but there was a lump in his throat, and sound refused to pass it. So instead he drew her into a hug. Apparently though, leaning forward to hug him wasn’t what she wanted. Instead she scooted towards him, and inched her way onto his lap, where they didn’t have to bend their backs out of shape.

For a long moment there was silence between them. The gentle quiet of two people who know each other well enough not to need words to convey their thoughts. Then Luna whispered, “you’re welcome Harry.” He suppressed a sigh when she leaned back, thinking she meant to move away. But then something else happened. She leaned forward again, and laid her lips against his.

Somewhere deep inside, there was an explosion. As though a thousand fireworks had been lit off in his belly. His whole being jerked sharply upward, yet not a single muscle twitched. The feel of her lips was soft, tender, gentle, yet it filled him with an aching need, a need to never let go. Without input from him, his arms curled tighter around her. He found himself pressing his own lips to hers, a little more firmly. Then she moved, only a little, her head tilted, her mouth opened, it changed everything. The feel of the kiss, shifted, it felt, deeper, more connected somehow. He reached for that feeling hungrily. Hoping for a similar effect he tilted his own head to match hers, opened his mouth a little. It failed, the feeling slid backward, he was doing something wrong. But he didn’t know what.

Suddenly it all changed. Luna was giggling, her entire body vibrating as she shook. Trying not to look too hurt, Harry asked. “What?”

“That felt nice.” She said, eyes twinkling. “But when you tilted, your hair tickled my cheek. And when I noticed that, I started to notice other things.” She glanced down, and Harry suddenly realized that the most obvious sign of his interest was currently poking Luna’s knee.

He made a noise that sounded rather like “eep” and tried to jump away. Her arms however, had not let go, so instead they ended up falling over.

He began an attempt to extricate himself, but before he could do more than lean away, she had captured his lips again. Which had the effect of shorting out his brain. When she let him go, she whispered. “Since we don’t really know what we’re doing, we’ll just have to practice until we do, silly. There’s no reason to be embarrassed.”

And so they did just that. For an hour or so, they practiced kissing. With occasional pauses to whisper about something one of them had done differently. The first time their tongues touched, they almost jumped away from each other before smiling, a bit shyly, and trying again.

Eventually, they looked up to see that the sun had drifted low in the sky. They were later than they had intended for the trip back to the castle, and would likely have to hurry in order to catch the last of the carriages.

They hurried down the path towards the village. But as they turned around the last bend of the path, a voice rang behind them, crying, “stupify.” And for Harry, the world went dark.


	60. Chapter 60

Slowly, painfully, Harry rose through the fog of unconsciousness. A sea of voices surrounded him as he struggled his way back to wakefulness. Something was happening, something important, but his head was muddled and he couldn’t recall what it was.

Light poured into his eyes as they opened, and it all came flooding back. The day with Luna, kissing at the shrieking shack, and then, being struck by a stunning spell.

He sat up, looking around wildly, barely taking in what was around him. He tried to scream, but all that came out was a croak. “Luna.” His throat was dry, and the single word hurt.

“Calm down, Mister Potter.” A familiar voice said, and a glass of something cold was pressed into his hand. “Drink.” The voice said again.

Almost automatically, Harry raised the glass and drank. Water he realised on the second gulp, and it was wonderful. Cold clear water that felt like heaven on his parched throat. Before he knew it the glass was empty, but the combination of soothing his throat, and cooling his tongue, allowed him to think.

At last he looked around properly, and was able to identify where he was. The hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey was reclaiming the glass from him, and filling it once more.

“What happened?” Harry asked, looking around at the other people in the room. For the space around his bed was fairly packed with people. Professor Flitwick, Professor Dumbledore, Fred and George, and Hermione, were all there.

“We don’t know.” Hermione spoke ahead of anyone else. “You were late getting back to the carriages, so we asked Professor Mcgonagall to look for you.”

A hand landed on her shoulder and she fell silent, as Professor Flitwick picked up the tale. “Minerva sent us a message, and myself and Pomona joined in the search. It took a while, but we eventually found you half hidden under a pile of leaves and twigs. Just off the path to the shrieking shack. You were pretty bad off, so we brought you up here to Poppy, while we continued the search for Miss Lovegood.”

He shared a look with his colleagues, and Madam Pomfrey took up the story. “I’m sorry to say, bad off, is a bit of an understatement. You had a broken arm, and leg, and nose. Two cracked teeth, four cracked ribs, and both eyes were blacked. You’ve been here all night, I only just removed the sleeping charm I had you under an hour ago. It was important that you rest, and allow your body to heal. You won’t be leaving until tomorrow either. You need some more rest in order to heal properly. I wouldn’t have you awake now, except we need some information.”

She paused, looking a bit worried, and Professor Dumbledore spoke next. “Harry, do you know who attacked you? Or what became of Miss Lovegood?”

“Luna? What happened to Luna?” Harry asked frantically, while trying to rise from the bed.

Madam Pomfrey raised her wand at him threateningly. “You will stay in that bed, Mister Potter. Or I will tie you to it.” When Harry had lowered himself back down, she continued. “Good, now. We do not know what happened to Miss Lovegood, hence why we are asking what you know.”

“We’ve been out looking for her most of the night, but we’ve found no sign.” Professor Flitwick said in a rather matter of fact tone. “Anything you can tell us may help.”

Harry scrunched up his face, trying to recall everything he could. But all he could remember was hearing someone yell a spell and then blacking out. He shared that with the professors who looked grave.

After a long moment Dumbledore spoke. “We’ll continue the search today. Anyone who isn’t teaching will need to be searching the grounds, and the village. If she isn’t found by tonight, we’ll need to call in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.”

After a few quick nods the professors filed away, leaving the teens, and Madam Pomfrey alone. After a final exhortation for Harry to remain in bed, Madam Pomfrey left for her office as well.

The twins and Hermione pulled up chairs and sat to commiserate with their wounded friend. The first thing they did, with the adults gone, was pull out their maps and look for Luna. Unfortunately she was not anywhere on either of the Marauders maps.

When the dinner bell rang, Madam Pomfrey finally shooed the teens out of the room. Hermione and the twins promised to return in the morning, when Harry would hopefully be released.

After dinner, Harry tried to relax. He had once again been threatened with permanent residency in the hospital wing if he got out of bed before sunrise. Before he could manage to trick himself into falling asleep though, the door of the hospital wing opened and Draco Malfoy walked in.

After a short chat with Madam Pomfrey, Malfoy walked over to Harry’s bed. “Hey there scarhead.” The blonde whispered when he was close enough to talk without being heard by the Matron. “Missing the looney yet?”

Not wanting to deal with the obnoxious boy, Harry decided to ignore him.

After a moments silence, Malfoy got an expression of anger on his face and continued, a little louder. “Well, it's a good thing she’s gone then. Don’t worry though, she’ll be back eventually. Once she’s been taught her place.”

Slowly, Harry turned to look the blonde in the eye. He was smirking, clearly pleased that he had gotten Harry’s attention. When he had met Malfoy’s eye completely though, something unexpected happened. There was a brief swirling sensation as though he was being sucked through a whirlpool, and suddenly he was watching the attack on himself and Luna.

Malfoy, Crabbe and Knot, were hiding behind a group of trees, and just after He and Luna had passed them. They jumped out and shot stunning hexes at the two of them. Harry was struck by two, one from Malfoy, and one from Crabbe, while Luna had been struck by Knot. Then the image faded and he was standing back in the hospital wing.

It took him a moment to work out what had happened. Legilimency, he had been using it for years now, but only for surface scans to predict what attack a dueling opponent might use. He hadn’t tried for anything deeper in a while, as it wasn’t terribly important. Apparently something about this situation had caused him to use it instinctively, he would have to ask Professor Flitwick about it later.

First though, was to help Luna. If Malfoy had been part of the attacking group, then he most likely knew where she was. Perhaps if he tried a little harder with the legilimency he could get what he needed. And so he did, he brought up his mental probe and shoved it at Malfoy as hard as he could. This time though, it seemed the boy was ready for the assault. Instead of slipping into Malfoy’s thoughts, or even the springy sort of wall he usually found when he and Flitwick were practising. There was a barrier that felt like it had been made of stone in his way. He pounded at it with his probe, but nothing happened.

“What are you doing Potter. Get out of my head. When my father hears.”

But he got no further than that. With the failure of his mental thrust, Harry knew he was short on options. When Malfoy starting talking, he lifted his hand, pointing at the blonde. The gem of his ring pulsed with magic as he spoke, “stop.” And Malfoy became still.

“Madam Pomfrey!” He yelled. When the Matron had come running to his bedside he blurted out an explanation before she could ask for one. “Malfoy just admitted to being involved in the attack on me and Luna. I think he knows where she is, but he won’t tell me. We need veritaserum, and someone to help.”

The witch went pale as Harry and spoke, then nodded and ran for her office. There was a flash of green flame and a conversation Harry couldn’t hear. Then she returned followed by Professors Flitwick and Dumbledore. A moment later they were joined by Professor Snape, who carried a small vial of clear liquid.

After a brief explanation, Malfoy was sat in a chair and dosed with the potion.

Dumbledore asked the first question. “Were you involved in the attack on Mister Potter and Miss Lovegood?”

“Yes.” Came the atonal reply.

“Do you know where miss Lovegood is now?” Flitwick asked.

“No.”

“Why not?” 

“We took her to the shack, and locked her in a closet. My father was supposed to pick her up, but we never knew when. She might still be in the shack, or she could be gone already.”

Dumbledore turned to the two men in the room. “Filius, Severus, go. The shrieking shack, check everywhere. It’s one of the few places that hasn’t been searched. There shouldn’t have been anyway for students to get inside, but if someone opened the place we would have no way of knowing.” Nodding the two left the infirmary at a run.

Turning back to Malfoy, Dumbledore sighed. “Very well, what was the purpose in kidnapping Miss Lovegood?” He asked.

“Father said he needed her, and that it would hurt Potter when she returned, broken.”

“Very well Mister Malfoy. Come with me, we’ll need to see to your punishment.” The old man said, rising from his chair. Without a word, the blonde followed along in his wake, and soon the hospital wing was empty once more, except for Harry.

As soon as Madam Pomfrey was back in her office, Harry pulled out his map to watch for the return of the Professors, and Luna.

Twenty minutes later he saw with trepidation, Professor Flitwick exit the passage under the whomping willow. A minute later he was followed by Professor Snape. The two stood there for longer than seemed necessary before returning to the castle. There was no sign of Luna.

The Professors went up to the headmaster’s office, where Dumbledore and Malfoy were waiting. Unable to do more than watch their movements, Harry sat on his hospital bed wondering what was going on.

Eventually the meeting in the office broke. Flitwick headed for his own office, while Snape and Malfoy went down to the Slytherin common room. Once inside they stood there for several seconds before Malfoy headed down a hallway to the dorms. Snape returned to his office, and Malfoy it seemed, went to bed.

Whatever punishment Draco had been given, it seemed that removal from the school, wasn’t part of it. What’s more, no one else was being brought into the castle. Which meant there were no aurors being called. No outside involvement. Which, to Harry, meant that it seemed, Dumbledore intended to either “deal” with this himself, or to simply allow events to play out.

An argument erupted in Harry’s head. Deep inside his mind, in a place that looked rather like the stone ring on the island. A battle of will and words grew rapidly.

His inner Sirius called out. “You can’t just leave her to those devils. There’s no telling what they might do.”

His more sensible nature, which took the form of Hermione said, more calmly. “The authorities can handle it. And if you get involved you could get into a lot of trouble.”

For nearly an hour, the argument raged in his head. To go, or not to go. Should he be the hero and rescue the girl. Or should he be the wise man, and allow others to do their job. Many more inner voices sounded off their opinions. The twins, whom he recognized as his prankster side, offered advice on how to get in to Malfoy manor. Inner Remus, played both sides, calm and collected pointing out the dangers of rushing in, werewolf side howling about the need to protect his pack. 

The debate was finally won by a quiet, dark haired figure. He stepped from behind a stone and spoke in a soft voice that nonetheless pierced the air. “It doesn’t matter. Our friend is in trouble, and we can help. And so long as there is breath in our lungs, a beat to our heart, we will stand for our friends.” When the figure finished his speech he looked up. James Potter stood there in the dark of Harry’s mind, tears flowing down his cheeks. “I fought for you son, I failed, but I fought. How can you do less for those you love?”

Coming out of his reverie, Harry checked the map, and saw that everyone seemed to have gone to bed. He very carefully slipped out of the bed, across the hospital wing, and down the hall, headed for the Chamber.

A small dark furred paw slipped through the tiny hoop which lay on the floor underneath a curio cabinet in the museum wing of Malfoy Manor. A bit of manipulation had the hoop enlarged enough for the furry body of Harry’s badger form to squeeze through and peer around the darkened room.

The room was as empty today as it had been on his last trip here. Slipping out from under the cabinet he returned to his human form and withdrew from a pocket a slip of parchment. The parchment opened to reveal an incomplete map of the manor, which he had painstakingly drawn out over the last few weeks in anticipation of his return trip. Although he had not expected to be here on such an urgent mission.

Regrettably, the map was not connected to the wards like the Marauders map, and therefore couldn’t show him where everyone was. But at least it allowed him to plan his route through the manor.

Pulling the invisibility cloak over his head, and hefting his paintball gun. He decided to try the necromancy chamber first. Followed by the basement, if she wasn’t there.

It appeared, once again, that everyone in the house was asleep. Thus the trip to the secret chamber was uneventful. Unfortunately, the chamber was also, uneventful. As in, there was nothing of interest there.

The basement, was similarly empty of people, or interest. The only thing there that could be considered interesting, being the hundreds of bottles of wine.

Two hours later, Harry was nearly ready to give up on the idea of Luna being in Malfoy manor. He had checked every room, except the bedrooms, and she was nowhere. With a shake of his head, he knew he would have to check the bedrooms.

Creeping down the hallway to the sleeping quarters, he stuck to the walls, as the joints would be least likely to creak where they were strongest. He reached the first room and drew in a long deep breath to settle his jangling nerves.

His left hand snaked out from under the cloak, reaching for the handle. It was odd he thought in the moments before he grasped the knob, to see it like that, disembodied, floating in midair. The knob turned easily, clearly if there were anyone inside they felt perfectly safe here. The door swung inwards, silently, the hinges well kept and oiled.

Slipping inside, Harry managed a quick look around the room. In the center was a large bed, upon which lay a single person. In the darkness of the room, it was impossible to determine who it was, but that was unimportant for the moment. A soft pop, sss, thwap. And a cloud of vapor surrounded the bed. With the assurance that whoever lay there would now sleep through anything, Harry moved forward to see who it was.

It was Lucious, his white blonde hair splayed across his pillow. Chest rising and falling in the slow rhythm of someone under the effect of the sleeping draft he had moments before breathed in.

Smirking, Harry quickly checked the rest of the room to be sure no one else was there.

The second room of the hall, revealed Narcissa Malfoy, who was also put under the effect of the sleeping draft, and left to her bed.

A quick search revealed that the remaining rooms were empty, so Harry returned to the elder Malfoy’s chamber, where he drew out from a pocket, the antidote to the sleeping draft.

A few quick movements had the older man tied to a chair, his head lolling to one side. Harry took a moment to consider the nostalgia of the scene. It hadn’t been very long ago really that he had this man, in this exact position, over the basilisk incident. Which directly led to the acquisition of the Chamber. Perhaps this too would lead to something epic.

It took a couple of minutes for the wake up draft to take effect, followed by a few more seconds for the veritaserum. But soon enough the elder Malfoy was ready to answer Harry’s questions.  
“Where is Luna Lovegood?” He asked first.

“In the dungeon.” Came the monotone reply.

“How do you get into the dungeon?”

“In the wine cellar, against the back wall, on the left from the stairs. Third row from the left hand wall, fourth bottle from the floor. Opens the dungeon entrance.”

“What have you done with her?”

“Locked her in a room until time for a special ritual.”

“What did you have planned for her?”

“She is meant to be the centerpiece for a ritual to strengthen the Malfoy family magic. Her magic will be taken. Afterward I planned to use her for my pleasure, until I tired of her. Then I would give her to Draco.”

It was all Harry could do, not to break the man’s nose, or worse. With what he felt was exceptional self control, he poured a vial of the draft of living death down the man’s throat and left the room.

In the basement it took him a minute to find the bottle which, when turned, opened the dungeon entrance. He quickly decided that it was a poor name for the place. Three small rooms, off a short hallway. Luna lay in the one on the left, her robes torn and muddied.

Throwing the door open, Harry rushed in to check her over. “Luna, wake up Luna.” He whispered as he grasped her shoulders. Brushing her hair from her face, he checked for a pulse. Her cheek was cold, as though she had been laying on ice, rather than stone. But her pulse was strong, if a bit slow. And she was breathing normally, but she wouldn’t wake. Thinking perhaps that she may have been dosed with something, rather like he had dosed the Malfoys, he lifted her from the floor and turned to leave.

The return trip to the portal back to Hogwarts was nerve wracking, as with the added weight of Luna in his arms, Harry was struggling to remain quiet, and not grunt with the effort. However, he made it without incident, though a few times he thought he saw a house elf turning a corner ahead of him.

Back in Hogwarts, Harry debated for a moment about what to do with Luna, but the only reasonable action was to take her to the hospital wing. He wasn’t a healer, and didn’t know how to identify what was keeping her asleep. So he headed for the hospital wing.

“Madam Pomfrey!” He yelled as he entered the infirmary.

To his surprise, Madam Pomfrey was not in her office. Instead she was standing in the middle of the wing, along with Professors Dumbledore and Flitwick. The three of them seemed to have been discussing something, but they turned as the door opened.

“What in the?” Madam Pomfrey gasped when her name was yelled from thin air. Realising that he was still invisible, Harry pulled the cloak from his shoulders as carefully as he could, so as not to drop Luna.

“I can’t wake her.” Harry said as he laid the little blonde on a bed.

“Mister Potter, what is the meaning of this?” The Matron asked as she bustled over to the bed.

With a few quick words he explained what he knew. When he finished, Pomfrey had a grave look on her face, and was waving her wand rapidly over Luna’s supine form.


	61. Chapter 61

Days passed in a haze of study and revision. Harry took breaks regularly to reflect on the rapid events which followed the kidnap of Luna Lovegood.

He had returned to Malfoy Manor, taken both Lucious and Narcissa from their rooms, and placed them into the cells which had been thrown up in the Chamber. Goyle and Greengrass had been dispatched to grab Draco, Crabbe, and Knot, who were also dropped in cells. All of the prisoners were dosed with draught of living death, and left for a few days, while the prison was finished.

Once the miniaturized village was complete, the Alliance gathered to try the offenders.

Luna of course stood as main witness against them. Her injuries had been minimal, and she had been released from the hospital wing after only one night. The most difficult part of her recovery had been waking her. She had been dosed with a lesser sleeping potion, and it had been simply a matter of identifying the correct antidote, which Professor Snape had been able to do in just under an hour.

The trials, altogether took almost two hours, and consisted of dosing each of the accusants with veritaserum and asking for their part in the plan. Followed by asking if anyone else had been involved. And finally the most important question, the one which would determine whether they would be sent into Sanctuary. Do they agree with the Pureblood philosophy, and would they prefer to live in a society which had no muggle influence at all?

Some of the answers had been surprising. Most were not.

Vincent Crabbe had been unaware of the plan, until they had been behind the tree. He knew only of Draco, and Theodore’s involvement. And his part consisted of adding extra hexes to the barrage that was to be sent at Potter and Lovegood. He was uncertain as to what kind of society he wanted to live in, as he had never experienced anything but what he was raised in. Which while he knew he didn’t much care for, as he was often poorly treated, he knew it was a mix of both magical and non-magical, as he had overheard many older students discussing that.

Theodore Knot, knew the whole plan, but had been involved only in the capture stage. Though he had gone along to watch as Luna was placed in the shack. He admitted that he had planned to return before she was taken away, to have a little fun, as he put it, but had been unable to get away, once the attack was discovered by teachers, as the school had been put in lockdown. From his point of view, the only others involved had been, Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe, and Lucious Malfoy. He stated that he would much prefer to be rid of the filthy mudbloods, that they were a stain on society.

Draco Malfoy, after being awakened, hissed and spat so much, that he had to be stunned, then dosed, then revived again, in order to begin the questioning. He admitted to being unaware of the plan until the day of. The he had met his father in the village, who had explained what he was to do, then left on a different errand. He had recruited Crabbe for extra muscle, and complained that Goyle had been unavailable due to having a detention that day. Like Knot, he stated that he would be most pleased to be free of muggle influence, and that he hoped all non-magicals would simply drop dead as soon as possible.

Lucious Malfoy, had been the originator of the plan. He had intended to use Luna as the focal point of a ritual to contact his master in an effort to determine a means of returning his dark lord to power. Luna might not have survived as the culmination of the ritual would rip her magical core from her, leaving her a squib. He had recruited his son because he had few options, and Draco was the best of what he had, in his opinion. The plan had been worked out with the senior Theo Knot, though Lucious had been unaware that anything had been shared with the younger Knot until the day of the attack. He admitted that it would be impossible to completely remove the muggle influence from magical society, as it was already too ingrained, from building designs, to fashion choices, even to the layout of their government. He simply wanted to remove any threat to his powerbase, which every muggleborn was, as even the lowest of them he recognized as being more competent than himself. That had everyone laughing, veritaserum was wonderful stuff.

Finally, Narcissa Malfoy, had not been informed of the plan until after Luna had arrived at Malfoy Manor. She had though approved, after the fact. She was unaware of who else was involved, having not been involved herself. But would be pleased to be free of outsider influence, as they often change fashions and she despised changing her wardrobe.

After a few minutes of deliberation the Alliance, adults and students together, agreed to send all but Crabbe to Sanctuary. Crabbe would be obliviated and returned to his dorm.

The final test of the Sanctuary prison then took place. They started with Lucious, he was fed the shrinking solution, which shrank him down to the size of a small figurine. Little more than two inches tall. Then he was sent through the portal which deposited him next to what would have been the shrieking shack in the real world. A sign had been placed there, next to the path leading to the village. The sign read, welcome to Sanctuary. An exact model replica of Hogsmeade village, and Hogwarts. Within this space, only witches and wizards are allowed. You may live here, as you desire, without the worry of outside influence. This place was built to insure the survival of Pureblood culture and tradition.

Then they just had to wait for him to wake and move around. They would know in about an hour if the wards worked as intended, preventing him from leaving, and maintaining the effect of the shrinking solution. 

The wait was nerve wracking for everyone, and many of the watching crowd were heard mumbling their worries. When the two hour mark had been reached however, everything still seemed to be working properly. And so the others were sent in as well. This would test another of the wards, which was set to warn current residents of incoming persons. Although it was unlikely that Lucious would recognize it the first time it went off. He was inspecting the three broomsticks when Narcissa was sent through the portal.

As expected, a moment after Narcissa landed in the clearing, Lucious stuck his head out the door of the pub and looked around confused. It took several minutes for the two of them to find each other, and shortly after they had, Draco was sent through. When he too had joined them in the village, Knot was sent in, this time the Malfoys went to the clearing and found Theo before he woke.

The successful test of the Sanctuary prison was celebrated with a party that ran late into the night.

There was a small uproar over the disappearance of two students, however when it was discovered that the Malfoy parents had also vanished, and that their manor had gone under a fidelius, courtesy of Sirius and Remus though no one knew that. It had been agreed that the elder Malfoy’s must have pulled Draco from the school for some reason, and that Theo Knott, being a friend of Draco, was likely to have gone with him for whatever reason.

The discussions of what might have happened to them were quickly overshadowed however by the approaching third task of the triwizard tournament.

For several weeks, students could be heard discussing what the final task might be. With guesses ranging from a four way duel, to a fight against a giant. A month before the task was to take place, the Champions were shown. The Hogwarts quidditch pitch was being turned into a hedge maze. It was further explained that a variety of creatures and traps would be set within the maze, and that the goal would be to reach the center, where the triwizard cup would be placed. The first to grab the cup would be declared the winner. The Champions would be released into the maze in order of the points they had earned in the first two tasks. Thus Harry would enter first, followed by Krum forty five seconds later, then Cedric one minute after him, and finally Fleur fifty seconds after Cedric.

After the explanation they were sent off to begin their preparations, which, with a month to prepare, was a bit extraneous.

All four Champions were regularly seen to be working hard. Learning new spells, working paper mazes, and studying a dizzying array of dangerous creatures.

For Harry, time seemed to pass faster than it ever had before. There was so much to do, so much to prepare, and not nearly enough time to do it all.

The morning of the third task was surprisingly bright and warm. This was unusual in that most days in late spring in Scotland were rainy. Observing the bright blue sky, with hardly any clouds, Harry assumed massive weather charms to insure good conditions for the task. Then he wondered why they never used those for quidditch games.

Breakfast was a loud affair, everyone discussing the coming task, with a few people chatting about the history exam or other classes for the day.

As the students were packing up to head to their first classes for the day, Professor Flitwick approached Harry.

“Good morning Mister Potter.” The Professor said when he was close enough to speak without yelling. “You have some visitors. You may wish to invite your friends to join you in greeting them. They are waiting in the small chamber off the great hall.” He pointed to the small door which led to the room where the first years gathered before the sorting ceremony.

Luna nodded and rushed away before the Professor finished speaking, and just as Harry turned to begin looking for Hermione and the twins Luna returned with them in tow.

“What’s up Harry-kins?” Fred asked as they came to a stop.

“Luna was rather insistent that we come over here before class.” Hermione added by way of explanation.

“Not sure.” Harry replied. “Flitwick said I have visitors and that I should take you to greet them.” He shrugged and pointed to the door Flitwick had indicated. “Shall we?”

The group moved towards the door, maneuvering through the crowd as best they could. As they neared they saw the other Champions also passing through. Hermione glanced between all of them and uttered a soft, “oh.”

“What did you figure out Hermione?” George asked.

She shook her head, but a smile was slowly spreading on her lips.

Finally they made it to the door, only to be greeted by a wall of noise as they entered the small room. It seemed the Champions families had been invited for the day. And Harry’s family was quite large. Xeno was there, and swept Luna into a hug as soon as she was within his reach. John and Jean Granger, who pulled Harry and Hermione into a group hug. And all the Weasley’s except Arthur who weren’t students. The twins were mauled into a family greeting, and then commented that they should have been better informed, otherwise they would have brought Ron and Ginny as well. The last surprise was Remus Lupin, accompanied by a large black dog.

When the initial greetings were completed, everyone switched kids. The twins turned to Xeno, Hermione went to the Weasley’s, Luna said hello to the Grangers, and Harry greeted his dogfather and uncle Mooey. Then they switched again, and again, until everyone had greeted everyone. Then the other students had to head off to class, as they were already late.

“So, what shall we do until time for the task?” Xeno asked.

“How about we give John and Jean a tour?” Commented Bill. “I expect this is the first time you’ve been here.” He smiled over at the couple.

“It is Bill, and that sounds like a great idea.” Jean replied smiling back at the younger man.  
The family rose together to head out and explore the castle. In the muddle of moving people, only Xeno noticed the french Champion eyeing one member of their group with approval.

“And here we have the greenhouses.” Harry pointed out as they approached the low buildings. The tour was going rather well. They had started in the Great Hall obviously enough. Which the Grangers had cooed over, commenting happily on the ceiling. From there they had travelled around the main floor, and out into the courtyards. Visiting the quidditch pitch, the lake, and now the greenhouses, where most of the magical plants were housed. Next they would head up and visit the upper floors, including the lost and found room that the adults had heard much of, but had yet to see. Harry planned to end the tour with a quick peek at the brewing lab and a visit to the Chamber, just before lunch. After lunch would be the task, which he was stridently ignoring for the moment in an effort to keep his nerves as calm as possible.

The elder Grangers were cheerfully appreciative of everything. Babbling with portraits as they made their way through the castle. Joining several students by the lake in tossing bits of food to the giant squid. Gazing in adoration at the pen of hippogryphs near Hagrid's hut. They even stopped for a quick word with Professor Snape when they visited the brewing lab.

Snape seemed a bit off. He didn’t bark at anyone, and had been smiling when they found him. He even asked, quite calmly to speak with Harry and his family, after the task.

Like anything one is trying to put off. Eventually it became time for lunch, which in turn meant it was nearly time to enter the maze. As they made their way back up to the Great Hall, Harry got more and more jittery, until at the doors he was trembling noticeably.

Rather than enter directly, the adults pulled him into a side room, where Xeno and Molly quickly put up several privacy charms. “It’s safe.” They called together and the dog shimmered into the shape of Sirius who, along with everyone else, wrapped Harry into a giant group hug.

“It’s okay pup.” Sirius whispered into Harry’s hair. “You’ll be fine, and we’ll be waiting at the end, no matter what.”

“You’re gonna do great cub.” Remus added. “And he’s right, no matter what, we’ll be there.”

“Take care of yourself Harry dear.” Was Molly’s addition to the muttering.

“Come out in one piece son.” John added. “Win or not, that’s all that really matters.”

For several minutes they stood there, each offering words of comfort, concern, or encouragement. Until Harry got his nerves under control again. Then they headed out to get some food in them before the big event.

Even with his nerves slightly calmed, Harry barely registered lunch. And almost before he’d even noticed, the dishes were cleared away, and the Champions were being ushered out towards the quidditch pitch.

The hedges had grown rapidly in the month since they had been shown what was being done. They were now fifteen feet tall, and an eerie assortment of noises drifted out from the opening near where the Champions had been stationed.

Dumbledore, Bagman, and someone else, stood and gave speeches, but Harry was ignoring them. He didn’t even bother to take notice that once again the senior Crouch had been replaced for the event. All he could hear was the pounding of his heart as the moment when he would have to go through that small opening in the hedge and face whatever was in that maze, came closer.

This was it, whatever had been planned by whoever it was that had put his name into this tournament. This is where it would happen. And no matter what they had tried, they had been unable to discover what the plan had been, or if it had actually been foiled. And in just a few minutes, he would be walking into the maybe trap.

Harry was brought out of his pondering by a loud whistle, and a gentle shove from Fleur. “Go on ‘Arry. Good luck.” The beautiful french girl said.

Nodding he turned and holding his head up as well as he could, he strode forward, into the maze.

Thwap, thwap, thwap. The sound of his feet slapping the hard ground as he ran was almost drowning out the heavy breaths he was forced to take. Behind him the giant scorpion like, fire breathing thing, scampered along. It’s sharp claws, feet, whatever you call them, were tearing bits of the ground up as it raced after him. He’d run into the thing almost as soon as he entered the maze, and it had been chasing him ever since.

The creature, was all but immune to magic. Nearly everything Harry threw at it simply bounced off its carapace. He’d managed to get it with an impedimenta which struck its belly, but that had only slowed the thing enough for him to get away. When he spotted it coming after him again, he’d used a light sticking charm, and a featherlight on himself. Then climbed up the side of the hedge. That had allowed him to move over a few isles, put some real distance between himself and the critter. 

But then the hedges had reacted badly to being climbed on. The branches reached up and grabbed hold of him. After swinging him around for a minute they had thrown him to the ground, where he lay for what felt like hours, trying to breathe.

When he’d finally gotten up and moved, he praised whatever gods were listening for at least being free of the scorpion thing. And then it turned a corner in front of him.

So now here he was, running down a corridor, a giant fire breathing scorpion chasing after him, and he had no idea where he was in relation to the cup.

As he ran, he tried to think. If he’d had any of his usual tools with him, he could hit the thing with a sleep potion. He couldn’t be sure that would work, but he could try. Unfortunately, he didn’t have those options available at the moment. So instead he would have to try something else.  
Hoping it would at least distract the thing, he threw a stunner behind him as he turned a corner.  
Regrettably, he had just discovered something worse. Rather than another corridor of shrubs, he had turned into a clearing. The space was about twenty feet across, But the worst part of it, was the bottomless pit that spanned the area. It was far too wide to jump across, and the walls were already moving, so his climbing plan from earlier wouldn’t work here. Hoping he would have time he turned around. Too late, the scorpion critter was just turning into the clearing.

Okay, okay, what to do? He asked himself, wondering if anything he could do would help at all. Then as the thing began to charge towards him again, he saw swimming into his memory. Another creature, far too big to be healthy, and intent on spilling his blood. A mountain troll in a bathroom. He had learned since then, a better version of the spell he had created that day.

“Glacius!” He cried, pointing his wand at the ground. Ice spread fast over the hard earth right to the feet of the creature. It’s next step slid out from under it and the creature tumbled. It slid across the ice, legs flailing trying to get hold of something. And Harry saw the flaw in the plan. The thing would slide right off into the pit, which was excellent. But Harry was directly in its path. He needed to move, and more importantly, he needed to move far enough that the thing couldn’t reach him. A simple jump to the side wouldn’t be enough, unless he just got lucky.

But a dive, coupled with something to push the thing away from him might work. Yelling in his fear he dove as hard as he could to the side. As his shoulder struck the frozen ground he pointed his wand at the thing and screamed. “Bombarda!” The blasting hex did nothing to the scorpions hide, but it did push it a few feet back. Just far enough for it to slide past Harry, out of reach. With a screech the thing fell over the side of the pit.

Brushing himself off, and panting to catch his breath, Harry rose and walked back out to the intersection.

“Point me.” He said, holding his wand in the palm of his hand. The wand spun several times before stopping, pointing almost directly ahead. “That way it is.” He said to himself and moved, hopefully, towards his goal.

Several turns and a few obstacles later he turned a corner and was confronted by Uncle Vernon. Right in the middle of the path, the rotund man stood, glowering at him. “What are you doing boy!” The man yelled. “I told you to get the whole lawn done, or there’d be no supper for you. Well I’m here to tell you, there’ll be no supper, and you’ll be in that cupboard for the rest of the week.”

Confused, Harry stared at the man. How did he get here? What was he doing in the maze. Why would he agree to be a part of this? Then it hit him. A boggart, it had to be a boggart.

“Did you hear me boy? I said get in your cupboard. Useless, worthless, lazy, freak.” 

Before the thing could say any more, Harry struck. “Riddikulus!” A faint pop accompanied a change of Vernon’s clothes. He was now dressed in old Mrs. Figg’s dress and overcoat. A moment later he burst out laughing at the sight of Uncle Vernon looking down in confusion at what he was wearing. Another soft pop announced the disappearance of the boggart. Path clear, Harry continued on.

A few turns later, Harry found another obstacle. As he jogged down an apparently empty corridor, he noticed something clinging to his feet, slowing him down. Looking down to see what was happening he had to stifle a scream. He was sunk to his ankles in the dirt which was swirling slowly around him. Quicksand, he was stuck in quicksand. Looking around he saw that the patch of wet earth extended roughly equally both ahead and behind him. So he couldn’t simply turn around and climb out. Nor could he move forward and hope to escape that way. He needed a way to pull himself out, but there were no trees nearby and the hedges in this part of the maze had not been extending any branches. Silly he realized, he could have been moving along the tops of them for a bit, but he had gotten used to being on the ground and hadn’t thought of it.

So, mundane options weren’t available, he needed to think like a wizard. A rope, that would work. He could transfigure one easily enough, but that wouldn’t help by itself. He needed it to be tied to something so he could pull himself out of the quicksand. Incarcerous, that created rope, and tied it to something, well, usually someone. But he needed a different version, one that would tie itself to the hedge, and leave him a trailing bit to haul on. That didn’t seem difficult. Just a small variation, should be easy enough.

He pulled his wand and pointed to a bit of the hedge beyond where he thought the quicksand ended. “Okay, hope this works.” Then he remembered the viewing sphere. He could get in a lot of trouble if anyone from the ministry discovered that he was creating spells, especially on the fly like this. Best way to avoid that was to use nonverbal casting. That would make it a little harder but it should still work. A flick of his wand, and, nothing. “Damn it.” He muttered. The quicksand was now up around his hips.

“Okay, okay, calm down. I can do this.” Another flick of the wand, still, nothing. “Damn it!” He nearly screamed. “Calm.” He took several deep breaths. “Okay, that’s not working. Different option. “Of course, duh.” Pulling his handkerchief from his pocket, he waved his wand over it, transfiguring the bit of cloth into a sturdy rope. Then a levitation charm to move one end across to the hedge outside the are of the quicksand. “Tap Dancing pineapples got nothing on this.” He said as the rope tied itself to the hedge.

Hand over hand he hauled himself across and within a minute was pulling himself up onto dry ground again. A quick cleaning charm had his robes clear of muck, and he was on his way once more.

“Point me.” He tried at the next intersection. He thought he was getting close now, there was a feeling, a sense of something nearby. Another intersection, another whispered, “point me,” and he found something he had been dreading since he had entered the maze.

Stretched across the corridor was a giant spider web. Somewhere far off, over the hedges, he thought he could hear someone scream, but the thought was gone a moment later as a large hairy body came into view. It was one of the acromantula of the forest. Harry even recognised it, this was one of those who handled the deliveries he made sporadically to the nest. It had never spoken to him, and he had always gotten the sense that it didn’t like him at all. There was a clicking, chittering sort of sound from its pincers as it drew closer.

“Hello.” Harry called, hoping the beast would be willing to talk. No such luck, the spider reared up, its fangs extended, deadly green venom dripping from the tips as it prepared to strike.

“Impedimenta.” Harry yelled, thrusting his wand at the spiders belly. The spell struck and the things movements slowed. Not waiting, Harry ran forward, past the spider and ducked under the webbing. He was halfway through the patch of webs when he heard the beast coming after him. A glance behind showed him that the spider was still moving slowly, but it was gaining on him anyway. Where he was forced to duck and weave to avoid being caught by the sticky strands of webbing, the acromantula simply crawled along it as though it were solid ground. A few seconds later Harry realized he would not make it to the end of the webs before the spider caught him, and then he would most likely be dinner.

There was no time for debate, no time to consider options. He whipped out his wand and cast, “Incendio,” setting the web ahead of him ablaze. Within moments his path was clear, but there was a side effect he hadn’t counted on. The fire hadn’t stopped at the web in front, it had spread behind as well. The spider screamed briefly as all around it flames leapt to devour its handy work.

The blaze did not last long though, and soon the corridor was clear of webs, but there was still a giant spider, now a little singed, and very angry.

“Stupefy.” The red spell shot across the space between Harry and the arachnid, but the beast lowered its head taking the spell across its carapace, where it bounced off harmlessly.

Once again he was faced with a looming, angry spider. He looked around wildly for some inspiration. There had to be some way of dealing with this thing. His eyes landed on a branch of the hedge, a branch that was rustling gently in a nonexistent breeze. And a memory swam up in his mind. Planning out the greenhouses on the island. Neville showing him a set of spells for dealing with plants.

A circle and swish of his wand. A murmured “dendromallus” and the hedge was briefly under his control. He couldn’t do much, he only had control for a couple of seconds. Ideally he would have the branches grab hold of the spider and keep it in place, but this was almost even better. He made the branches reach out across the corridor to its opposite wall. The viney branches snaked across, filling the space between the hedges and creating a new wall. It just so happened that the front end of the acromantula was in the intervening space. It was forced to scuttle backwards or be caught up in the branches. Once he was sure the path would be closed behind him, Harry turned and ran forward, Just ahead of him he saw an open space, filled with a soft golden glow.

He exited into the space and there, in the center was the cup. Sitting on a plinth, an orange spotlight shining off it. He rushed forward, eyes on the prize he’d heard said once, and the idea described him perfectly in that moment.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a second person rushing out of another corridor and towards the cup, but it was too late. He was almost there, he reached out his hand an inch away. Something hit him from behind the tips of his fingers brushed against the cup and his world went black.


	62. Chapter 62

Clank, slosh, crackle. Sounds invaded Harry’s thoughts as the black of unconsciousness slowly faded. There was something, something very hard at his back. And when he tried to move, he felt ropes holding him up, and against whatever was behind him.

He held his breathing slow, and tried to listen harder, to attempt to learn anything about where he was before he opened his eyes. Somewhere nearby, someone was speaking, but he couldn’t make out the words. His head was still too fuzzy. Then footsteps, coming closer maybe?

A presence at his side nearly jerked him into full awareness. The hand pulling up his sleeve, and the blade cutting through the skin of his forearm did.

“Aah!” He cried trying to jerk away from the knife. Pettigrew was standing next to him, collecting his blood in a shallow bowl. The twitchy, rat like man stretched an awful smile across his lips and walked away towards a great black cauldron.

“Blood of the enemy, forcibly taken. You shall resurrect your foe.” The rat said tipping the bowl into the cauldron. The blood dripped red and gleaming in the light of the small fire underneath it. Then Pettigrew moved to the side and picked up a bundle of cloth which he quickly dropped into the cauldron. For one horrifying moment, Harry saw something inside it. A tiny baby like thing that he had seen once before, on the viewing screen in the Chamber, thanks to a spell cast by Lavender Brown.

For a second, then two, he was frozen to the spot, unable to even think. Then smoke began to issue from the cauldron, and there was a sound of bubbling, and hissing from its depths. The realization that he was about to witness the rebirth of Voldemort got him moving. A few twists confirmed that the ropes were too tight for him to wriggle out of, or get to his knife, assuming it was still on him. So, plan B.

A shimmer and where Harry potter had stood a moment before, now there was a small black badger waddling away into the shadows. He managed to get behind a tree and turn back to human form just in time to cast the twins duplicate spell, leaving an image of himself tied up where he had been a moment before.

Rising from the cauldron was a pale, emaciated body. As it turned Harry noted that it had neither ears, nor nose, nor in fact genitalia. The eyes were slitted like a snakes and glowed dully, a dark crimson. This was no human body the fool had put himself in, but a homunculus. Presumably chosen as a means to strike further fear into anyone who saw him. But anyone who understood the making of such things, would know that a large portion of his magic would be needed just to keep the body working, unless somehow they fixed that problem with whatever ritual was used. If he could get Peter they might be able to get the details out of him, which would allow for a more complete plan to stop him. Presumably this form would not have any negative interactions with the horcruxes, as the madman was unlikely to use any means of return that would. But then again, he is a madman, perhaps he was working with magics he didn’t properly understand.

Harry’s attention was finally pulled away from his musings as several loud cracks sounded through the graveyard. Which now he was looking around more, he saw that he was indeed in a graveyard. The most prominent name on the tombstones, was Riddle. After a moment of curious glances he recognized several, and knew where he was. The graveyard at Little Hangleton, between the Riddle manor house, and the Gaunt shack.

Once again he was pulled away from his consideration of the area by Voldemort and his returned death eaters.

The death eaters had gathered in a large circle around Voldemort. With their black robes and white skull masks it was impossible to determine who any of them were. Though he knew who a couple of them must be. Gregory Goyle had told the Alliance already that both his father and Crabbe’s had been death eaters, along with Knott’s. And indeed as Voldemort began circling the gathered crowd, which had several holes in it, as though they were waiting for others to join, he began naming some of them. Crabbe, Knott, and Goyle, were among the first named. Along with Macnair, and Malfoy, though of course the absence of Malfoy was commented on. Instructions were given that Malfoy should be found and brought to heel, clearly he was no longer willing to follow his master. Then he said something that made Harry’s blood run cold.

“Here should stand the Lestranges, Bellatrix, Rudolphus, and Rabastan. They went to Azkaban rather than renounce me. When Azkaban is broken open, they will be rewarded beyond their wildest dreams. The dementors will join us, they are our natural allies. The giants will be recalled, I will have all my old allies back. The ministry will not hold for long, they are weak, pitiful even.”

“Shit.” Harry mumbled under his breath, biting off any further comment before it could alert anyone to his position. A wave of his wand cast the voice throwing spell that made it sound as though he were talking from the same place it appeared he stood, against the tombstone of Tom Riddle. That way if he had any other outbursts, it would not reveal to anyone where he was hiding. And speaking of hiding, a quick tap on the top of his head cast a disillusionment spell, too bad he couldn’t bring his cloak with him into the maze. Though if he had it would most likely have been taken from him. His wand holster hid itself against his arm, but none of his other gear did such. Still the disillusionment should be enough, in the dark, with lots of cover, and remaining still, it was unlikely that any of them would notice him. And if they started moving he could position himself so that they would be unable to stumble across him either.

Once again the madman distracted him from his thoughts. Though that was probably a good thing. It was unlikely to be terribly healthy to let his mind wander with this many enemies nearby.  
“Release him Wormtail. Give him back his wand. He will be allowed to fight. Come Harry Potter, face me.”

“Shit, better pay attention.” Harry mumbled as he took control of the image of himself and made it walk towards the sort of resurrected Voldemort. A flick of the images hand brought its wand out, which it then waved about merrily. “You mean this wand that he never took off me?”

Voldemort turned a baleful gaze onto the rat. “Wormtail?”

“Master, I, I couldn’t find it.” Peter said hastily, holding up his arms. Harry noted that his left hand seemed to be encased in silver for some reason. Maybe he missed something while he was thinking about other things.

“Crucio.” Voldemort whispered, pointing his wand at Pettigrew. “Do not fail again, Wormtail.” With one last glare he turned back to Harry. “Now Harry Potter, we shall duel. You have, I assume, been taught the proper way. Dumbledore would want you to show proper manners, first we bow.” And the madman gave a mocking bow.

Cocking one eyebrow, a trick he’d been perfecting for a while, Harry blinked at Voldemort. “You’ve been out of the loop for a while, huh? Bowing like that went out years ago. Here I’ll show you the proper manner of today.” He brought his wand up before his face held vertical between his eyes, and dipped forward into a one quarter bow, maintaining eye contact. “You see, taking one’s eyes off of one’s opponent is insulting, it proclaims that you do not see them as a threat. Truly atrocious manners on the dueling platform. That got drilled into me, first day of training.”

“Enough!” Voldemort cried. “Crucio! I will have no more of your babbling Potter.”

As the madman was aiming at an image, the spell of course did nothing. But just for the sake of continuing the charade, Harry had the image fall down and twitch as though it were in a great deal of pain.

“Now, let us take a short break. You didn’t like that did you Harry Potter. You wouldn’t want me to do that again would you?” 

“A break?” Harry replied. “You getting tired already? Must be those old bones. I’ve noticed Dumbledore has the same problem, not moving so well anymore, slowed down. I hear it happens to everyone, I’m sure you’re fine.”

“Crucio!” Again Harry made the image twitch just for funs sake. “I will not listen to your cheek Potter. You will kneel before me.”

“Dude, I’m already on the ground. What more do you want? I’d ask if you wanted sexual favors, but you don’t have anything to do that with. Kind of a silly choice that, but then you’re you, and I’m not. Now if you wanted.”

“Crucio!” This time the incensed dark lord held the torture curse for nearly a minute before releasing it. “I said, silence.”

“Are you sure about that Tommy boy? I mean, if you want silence, shouldn’t you try a silencing spell, rather than an ineffective pain jinx. I mean really.”

“Imperio.” Apparently the madman wanted to try something different. Which would be difficult for Harry, as he had no clue what the idiot was trying to force him to do.

After a moments debate he decided just to say that it wasn’t working. “Yeah, sorry, that one’s not working either. Are you sure you’re doing it right? I mean, it sounds like you are, but then.” The image raised its arms in a what’s going on kind of gesture. “It ain’t working. Maybe try something different?”

Voldemort was glaring at him now, a look of utter loathing in his eyes. “Avada Kedavra.” A jet of bright green arced across the space between Voldemort and the image. Before it had covered half the distance, Harry decided to abandon this game, as it wasn’t getting him anything useful anyway. And he really needed to get out here soon. There were around twenty death eaters in this graveyard, and without his gear, Harry doubted he could take on two. It was time to leave, the only question was, how.

Hoping he could buy himself enough time to find a way out, he turned back to the spell about to prove that Harry wasn’t actually lying on the ground in the circle of death eaters.

The spell struck, a hole almost a foot across and three inches deep erupted from the ground where the spell landed. Bouncing up, the image yelled. “Missed me.” And ran for a nearby headstone, ducking behind it just as a spell struck the stone. For a couple of heartbeats, the image dodged and ducked spell fire until it was behind a large tombstone, and the attention of every death eater, plus Voldemort, was well away from Harry’s hiding place. This finally gave him the opportunity to look around properly for a way to get out. And he saw it, no more than six steps behind the tombstone he had been tied to. The triwizard cup lay forgotten on the ground. If he could get to it, hopefully it was still set to take him back to Hogwarts.

“Come out Harry. This is a duel, not a game of hide and seek.” Voldemort was saying as he prowled through the headstones, drawing closer to where the image waited.

For a moment, Harry considered rubbing the dark wankers face in the fact that he fell for the image trick, again. But decided against it, he may need to use it again later, and if he told the idiot about it, he’d be looking for it. Instead he simply cancelled the charms, and focused on the cup.

When he was getting the portals to work, he had been thinking of ways for the Alliance to escape danger. The death eaters were known to use anti-apparition, and anti-portkey spells in order to trap their targets. So a way to get out, that didn’t rely on those two options would be helpful. The only one he had managed to get working, apart from the portals, which had proven to be so much more than a means of escape, he called the quickstep spell. It allowed the caster to move across any distance they could see, with a single step. It had a drawback though, while it moved you very fast, it did in fact move you across that distance. So if something got in the way, it would stop your movement. The effect was not pleasant, and because of that he hadn’t bothered teaching it to more than a handful of people for testing purposes. When the twins nearly took each others heads off, and had to spend a night with Madam Pomfrey to recover, he dropped the idea completely. But sometimes, desperate ideas are needed.

He hadn’t tried the quickstep spell from this angle before, and he didn’t want to screw it up by being too distracted. The rest of the world fell slowly away. The muttering of the death eaters, the enraged screaming of their owner. Everything except his need to be beside that cup. And then, he stepped, and the world blurred as he moved faster than the human eye could follow.

Ducking, he scooped up the cup and waved to the death eaters as a hook behind his navel dragged him away.

He landed, retching, hauling up everything in his stomach, and more. He heard the sounds of people coming close, and managed to recognise a head of dirty blonde hair before he passed out.

He woke, as usual, in the hospital wing. At least this time, he could see when he opened his eyes. Hedwig, and Loki, were both perched on the headboard, watching him closely. When they saw that he was awake, Hedwig ruffled her feathers and barked at him, as if to say, “good, don’t do that again.”

While Loki actually did say, in his odd, hissing growl. “You get hurt a lot. You really need to stop. We can’t prank anyone while you’re in here.”

“Sorry buddy.” Harry replied, reaching up to scratch his familiars chin. Then stretching over to stroke Hedwig’s breast.

“Good to see you moving again.” A soft, feminine voice drifted to him. A glance to the side revealed Jean seated on a chair next to his bed. “Hey, sleepy head. You gave us quite a scare. There are a few people who are going to want an explanation.” She said taking his hand and giving it a squeeze.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to.” Harry replied, then remembering the viewing spheres, and screens connected to them and asked. “How much did you see?”

“Fleur hit you with a stunner, then you grabbed the cup and vanished. Unfortunately, the sphere didn’t go with you. Apparently the cup was supposed to bring you back to the starting point, and drop most of the hedges. The hedges fell, but apparently something went wrong, because you didn’t appear where you were supposed to. We were at a loss for most of an hour, then you popped in right where you should, threw up, and passed out. That was about an hour ago. There was a debate between the judges, on whether it counted as a win. But the goal was simple, whoever got the cup first, got the win. And no one could argue that you had the cup. So what about you? What happened?”

“I believe we’d all like to hear that.” Said a new voice. Looking up, there were several people gathered around the foot of the bed. The minister for magic, Cornelius Fudge, Headmaster Dumbledore, Professor Flitwick, Professor Snape, and the man who had spoken, a large dark skinned man, with a gold hoop earring.

“Auror Shacklebolt, Mister Potter.” The man introduced himself, he had a deep, rich voice, which went with his dark skin and bald head rather nicely, Harry thought. “I was in the audience tonight and asked to be involved in the investigation. Can you please tell us what happened?”

Rubbing a finger over one eye in an effort to wake up a bit more, Harry nodded. “Yeah, I’ll do my best. It’s a bit hazy in parts. After the stunner, I woke up tied to a tombstone.”

It felt like hours passed as he told what had happened in the graveyard. More people filtered over as he told of the death eaters, the ritual to return the dark lord to a body, and the duel that wasn’t. He left out the quickstep spell, instead saying that he simply ran for the cup, as he didn’t want to give away that particular bit of knowledge.

When he finished, the minister was spluttering. “Codswallop.” He coughed as everyone turned to look at him, then continued. “You know who, returned. Well, it’s preposterous. He who must not be named is dead. Everyone knows that.”

“Ah, but you are forgetting Cornelius. We never found a body.” Dumbledore said cutting off the man’s tirade.

“Regrettably, we have only the word of one young man for this.” Shacklebolt said. “And while I’m sure.”

But Fudge cut him off. “That’s right. It’s only his word. And even if he is Harry Potter. We can not take the word of a fourteen year old boy on something like that.”

“Cornelius, you must listen.” Dumbledore said in his best grandfatherly tone. “I can assure you that Lord Voldemort is back, and it is imperative that we take certain actions, immediately. The first thing that must be done is the removal of the dementors from Azkaban.”

“Remove the dementors. I’d be sacked. Half of us only sleep well at night because we know they guard the prison.”

“The rest of us sleep less well, knowing that you have placed Voldemort's closest supporters in the hands of creatures that will join him the moment he asks. They will not stay loyal to you Fudge. Voldemort can offer them much more than the ministry ever would. The second thing you must do is to send envoys to the giants.”

“Envoys to the giants. You’re insane Dumbledore. People hate them, end of my career.”

“Cornelius, I tell you, take the measures I have outlined, and you will be remembered in office or out, as the best Minister for Magic this country has ever had. Fail to act, and you will be remembered as the minister who stepped aside and allowed Voldemort to return unchallenged.”

“Insane, totally insane.” Fudge mumbled as he backed away. “I will be in touch Dumbledore, about the running of this school.” He blustered as he turned and ran from the room.

Dumbledore turned to the Professor’s and Auror Shacklebolt and began to speak quietly with them. Harry however was distracted by the arrival of a horde of Weasleys, along with the Lovegoods, John Granger and Hermione. All of whom crowded around the bed and promptly provided a babble of how are you feeling, and here take this, shoving sweets into his hands.

Harry tried to stay awake and chat with everyone, but it had been a long day. He didn’t even notice when he simply dropped off to sleep.

When Harry next woke, there were two surprises waiting for him. The first was a bag of galleons on his bedside table. A note leaning against it, explaining that it was his winnings from the tournament. The second, was a soft voice from the chair next to his bed. Professor Snape had been sitting with him.

“Good morning Mister Potter. I believe I mentioned that I wished to speak with you after the task.”

“You did Professor.” Harry replied, wondering what the man could possibly want.

“Well, it is after the task. If you are willing?” The dungeon bat cocked an eyebrow, waiting for a response.

“So it is. What can I do for you Professor?”

“You mentioned some time ago, that you would be willing to find a way to remove the mark. To free me of, certain obligations. I find myself in need of such a service. Assuming it is still on the table.”

Stunned, Harry simply blinked at the man.

“I see, if it is not, then I shall have to find another way.” Snape spoke slowly, that eyebrow raised once more.

“No, or rather yes. The offer is still open. You just surprised me. Do you mind if I ask why?”

The potions professor scowled, but answered. “A surprise really. The dancing and valentine pranks, led to certain interactions with someone I had not previously thought of as a possible romantic partner. Now I find that I am rather enamored, and I do not wish to drag her into the life of a spy. It is rather dangerous, and if there is another option available, I wish to take it.”

Harry, again had to blink away the surprise. He hadn’t expected an answer like that. “Do you remember how to get down to the Chamber?” At Snapes nod he continued. “We’ve instituted a magical contract of secrecy, both of you will need to sign. Bring her the evening I get out of here.” He motioned to the hospital wing. “We’ll make arrangements. I’ve been a bit busy this year, I haven’t found a way to remove the mark yet, but I have an idea. Fortunately, I’m mostly free from here, so I can focus on that and hopefully find a solution quickly.”

Snape nodded again, and rose. “Thank you Mister Potter. I’ll see you when you’ve been released. It is just passed breakfast. I expect Madam Pomfrey will be in shortly to check on you. And I daresay that several of your admirers will come to visit rather than attend their classes.” With that he turned and strode away.

Grinning, Harry snuggled down into the blankets and drifted back to sleep.

The final three weeks of term passed quickly. The Alliance was of course informed, and the network got to work letting everyone know that the muggleborns most aggressive enemy was back.

Harry was hard at work searching for a means of removing the dark mark. Snape was given his first job for the Alliance, once he and Professor Synystra had signed the contract. Find a way to produce a patronus in potion form to be used in the paintball guns.

When the final day of term came, and it was time to head down to the train and back to the rest of the world. Harry, the Weasley’s, and Luna, decided to skip the train and simply take a portal to the island. It was going to be a long summer.


	63. Chapter 63

In a small, ordinarily unused meeting room, a few hallways from the office of the Minister for Magic. Six people sat on comfortable chairs around a table. Each of the six had a grim look, had anyone else been in the room they would easily guess that these people were gathered for some important business.

At the head of the table sat a short rotund man in a lime green bowler hat. This man looked around at his fellows, and allowed his anger to show. “We must put a stop to this at once.” The man said, slamming his fist to the table. “If we allow that child, or that senile old fool to spread their lies the Ministry would have a panic on our hands.”

Beside him, a tall, elegantly dressed, platinum blonde haired man extended a hand. “Minister, do calm yourself.” The blonde said quietly, a hint of his own anger peeking out of his voice. “I agree completely, we must rid ourselves of these disruptive elements. But we can not do so by banging our fists, and swatting at them. Rather that is why we invited Miss Skeeter to this meeting.” He gestured to the garishly dressed blonde woman with long bright red fingernails seated at the end of the table. “We will need to remove the people's trust in the boy, and the old man, before we can do much else.”

“Agreed.” Said the broad dark haired man seated next to the blonde man. “Towards that goal, I have a few ideas. I think it’s time we dusted off a few tricks. Miss Skeeter, can you arrange to pepper a few articles with comments on the sanity, or capability of either Harry Potter, or Albus Dumbledore?”

The garish blonde spread her mouth into a shark like smile. “Of course Lord Knott. I would be well pleased to do so. Those two cost me a lot of press and reputation last year. It would be a pleasure to cut them down a peg.”

“Excellent!” Added the fourth man. A sallow looking elder gentleman, with fine retreating grey hair. “After a week or so of that, we can start on the real work of getting rid of them. Have Dumbledore declared unfit for the Wizengamot, remove him from the ICW, get him out of Hogwarts if we can.”

“And what of the boy? Lord Parkinson?” Said the last person in the room. A short overlarge woman with a wide flat face, rather reminiscent of a toad. An appearance which was not helped by the placement of a green bow on top of her head which looked rather like a large fly waiting to be gobbled up. “What shall we do about him?”

“Madam Umbridge,” responded the blonde man. “There is regrettably very little we can do about the boy. Unless he is caught breaking the law, all we can do is discredit him.”

“Now that is a thought, Lord Malfoy.” Lord Knott said, stroking his chin. “Can we arrange to keep an eye on the boy, and watch for any signs of disobedience to the law?”

Lord Malfoy pondered for a moment as the room fell quiet. “I believe that is a question for the Minister. Well, Minister Fudge, can an excuse be managed for monitoring the boy?”

Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge alternately preened at the way the attention of the room turned fully to him, and then panicked a little at being put on the spot with a question he didn’t know the answer to. Then he swelled his chest out, trying to look even more important than he already was. “I am Minister for Magic, if I tell them to do it, they’ll damned well do it, if they know what's good for them.”

Small smiles appeared on the faces of the three lords in the room. While Madam Umbridge, senior undersecretary to the Minister got a more thoughtful look as she smoothed her robes.

On a small island just south of the UK mainland, a young man was seated on a deck chair. Messy black hair floated in the morning breeze as he sipped a cup of steaming tea and reached for a stack of letters.

Dozens of requests for safe housing had been received daily since the report of Voldemort’s return had gone out. Most were requesting on behalf of family, though there were many who asked for themselves as well. It had quickly become clear that while the island was large enough, there simply weren’t enough rooms to manage.

The Alliance had grown since its beginning to include almost two thousand members, and each member wanted to bring their family to the island for safety. With only three hundred and forty rooms available, there simply wasn’t enough. There was space for tents by the beach, but come winter that would be unlikely to suffice for most people, especially those with young children.

Fortunately, it wasn’t Harry’s job to solve that problem. At least not yet, if things got bad and the adults hadn’t figured something out, then he would step up and do something. For now though, he was trusting that the adults he had placed his trust in would do their part. They hadn’t let him down yet.

No, Harry’s concern were his three personal projects. Each of which needed to be completed this summer. 

First, and most frustrating, was what to do with four special items. A ring, which he and Bill Weasley had discovered in the old Gaunt shack. The diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw, said to grant its owner vast knowledge, which Luna had given to him in second year. The locket of Salazar Slytherin which had been stolen by Regulus Black, and which Kreacher, the Black family house elf had failed to destroy. And finally the Cup of Helga Hufflepuff which had been among the treasures looted from the vault of Bellatrix LeStrange. Each of these items had one thing in common. They were all horcruxes. Tom Riddle, more commonly known as Voldemort, had torn off a piece of his soul and placed it into these things. So long as those soul pieces existed, he could not be killed by any known method, as the soul pieces would anchor him to this world. The simple means of solving the problem would be to destroy the vessels. The soul pieces could only remain so long as their vessels were undamaged, destroy the vessel and they would depart for wherever souls go after death. However, Harry was loathe to destroy such valuable pieces of history. So he was searching for a way to transfer the soul pieces to new containers. Unfortunately while he was sure there was a way, he was equally sure it was beyond his ability. It would take someone far more skilled in soul magic than he was to do it. And he had not found anyone willing to admit to even knowing what soul magic was, let alone having any skill with it. He was thinking he would have to look for someone outside of Britain, but he had very little information on other countries to work with.

His second project, was going quite a bit better. Now that he had more free time, he was producing almost a dozen magical paintball guns a day. Soon the entire Alliance would be outfitted. At least those who were going to be going into battle anyway. He had even managed to work in one of his original design concepts, adding a focus element to the foregrip, allowing anyone using one of the guns to cast spells through it, as though it were a rod. Of course the easiest to cast so far, was a protega, but then having a shield available was rather useful. It would take some practice to get much else, but then, that was what the training field was meant for.

His final project for the summer, was giving him almost as much trouble as the horcruxes. It was a project that had been given to him by John Granger and Xenophilius Lovegood. The two men had cornered him the night they had returned from Hogwarts. At first Harry had thought they intended to talk with him about relationships and what might befall him if he took advantage of Luna. He was pleasantly surprised when she hadn’t come up at all. Instead they engaged him in a frank discussion of life after school. What did he want to do with his life? They had asked, and then began a long discussion of career options, life paths, goals, and plans. And thus his third project was born. Discovering what he wanted to do, once the fight with Voldemort was finished. Obviously he would need to finish school, but what about after that? He had jotted down a few ideas, but nothing truly grabbed him, nothing made him sing with the idea of it. He enjoyed creating things, as he had been doing for a couple of years now. Even better with help from Nicholas, who had decided to return to France until Voldemort had been dealt with, explaining that five dark lords were enough and he would be sitting this one out. However, he didn’t think he would want to spend the rest of his life in his lab, making item after item. The work on the paintball guns had shown him that.

But right now, in this moment of serene morning contemplation, he didn’t need to worry about any of that. He had his tea, and a couple of scones that Dobby had brought up. And the only thing here to bother him, was the mail.

He quickly flipped through the first few letters. More requests from the student branch of the Alliance to bring their family’s to the island. There had been a lot of arguing over that idea. No one was opposed to bringing non-magicals to the island. After all it was John and Jean Granger who had actually made it possible for anyone to be here in the first place. However, the logistics of moving several hundred people out here, and then transporting those with day jobs back and forth, would reduce the safety of the island, not to mention eat up the available space. Another aspect of the argument centered on the question of who was in the most danger. While no one argued that the muggles would be in less danger if attacked, they did argue that they were less likely to be attacked, as they were considered less of a threat.

As this was part of the ongoing discussion that Harry was leaving to the adults, he marked those letters to go to the committee they were forming to decide who would be brought to the island. And moved on to the rest.

There was only one left. A rather official looking one, from Gringotts.

Dear Mister Potter,  
We the goblins of Gringotts formally request your presence at a meeting of importance. Further to our discussion and agreements of last year, we request that you bring with you any proof you may have of your claim of the return of the self proclaimed dark lord, Voldemort. Said meeting shall take place on the first day of August, at 2:00 in the afternoon. You may be accompanied by anyone you wish, however we request that you bring no more than three companions.  
Thank you for your time and consideration.  
King Ragnok the sixth.

Upon reading the goblins request, Harry rose and strode into the main room of his suite to check his calendar. July eighteenth, so he had a couple of weeks to prepare, which was good. He had arranged for Gringotts to agree to close if it was proven that Voldemort had returned. That must be what the meeting was about. Though why they were waiting so long for it he didn’t know, perhaps they had some other business to conclude before they could do so.

As he was up and moving he glanced at the clock and smiled. Still another forty five minutes before he had to head downstairs and start on his work for the day. It was possible that one of the adults would come by to visit before then, they often did, but until then he could relax for a bit longer, and enjoy his morning tea.

“We have several shop fronts available, none of which are currently in use.” Said a voice Harry couldn’t place as he exited the elevator on the main floor of the hotel. Turning the corner into the dining area, he saw that the adults were gathered at one of the tables, documents scattered between them. Near the door, the young Marauders had gathered and were trying to look like they weren’t listening in on the adults discussion. As he stood there debating what to do, Hermione waved him over to join the younger crowd.

“Which would allow him to move his business, yes. But there’s still the question of where to house the man.” Xenophilius was saying as Harry joined his friends.

“What’s going on?” Harry asked as he took a seat next to Luna, which Hermione had vacated moments before, apparently for exactly that purpose.

Neville replied to his question. “Olivander came out today to assist with planting the wand trees in habitat two. When he saw what we had done so far, he asked if it would be possible for him to join us if things got bad.”

“They’re arguing over whether there’s room for him.” Hermione added when Neville stopped speaking.

Over at the adult table, John Granger was adding his opinion to the mix. “What if we section off a part of the shop as housing. We did it with all of the top floor rooms, and Sirius said there was a plan to continue with the rest of the rooms. Couldn’t we do that down here as well?”

Shelly Cross, a pretty brunette witch, one of the muggleborn who had joined the Alliance in the first round of recruiting, responded. “Yes, that can be done. But will it work for mister Ollivander? Or will he want something more grand?”

‘Well, it can’t hurt to ask him.” Arthur Weasley stated slowly. “If a small room attached to his shop doesn’t work for him then we can return to the question. But if it does, then problem solved. It’s not like he’ll be staying here forever, just until the troubles over.”

That seemed to settle the argument, and the adults slowly began to filter away towards other work to be done.

As the adults packed up their paperwork, the twins turned towards Harry. “So, Harry-kins.” Fred said a look of glee growing across his face. “What do you have planned for today?”

Feeling a bit nervous, it was rarely good for one’s sanity when either of the twins got a look like that, Harry opened his mouth to respond. And was promptly cut off by George. “Not important, plans have changed. You’ve been cooped up with important projects,” he puffed up and spoke pompously, “for too long now. It’s time you took a break and did something fun.”

“I’m going to agree with them Harry.” Neville said quietly from the other side of the table. “I was looking forward to the tree planting today, but apparently their only debating on placement today. The planting will be tomorrow, so I got the day off.”

“Right, and Luna had a great idea for something fun for us all to do together.” Hermione added, pulling out a notebook from her bag.

Turning to the smaller blonde beside him, Harry cocked an eyebrow. “Oh?” He asked. “And what did miss Lovegood think of for a group activity?”

A small hand batted at his arm. “Poo.” Luna pouted at him. “I thought it might be nice to build a play area for the kids that will be here when we start moving people in. But if you’re not interested.” She was struggling to look forlorn, and failing miserably as a smile quirked her lips.

“That does sound fun, do we have any ideas on what kind of play area?” Harry asked as a smile grew across his own face.

“Well, I’m glad you asked young Harry.” Fred said trying to look pompous while being jostled by his twin.

“We’ve come up with several, which Hermione has graciously written down.” George added in his own pompous voice.

“Oh hush you two.” Susan Bones swatted at George. “I was thinking we could build like a miniature castle next to the beach.”

“I still say a pirate fort would be better.” Hannah Abbot offered, plucking a grape from the table to pop into Ron’s mouth before he could say anything.

Unfortunately the presence of food in the youngest male Weasley’s mouth had never been a deterrent to him speaking. “Oi, why don’t we do both. That way the kids can stage mock pirate attacks on the castle.”

“I’m still surprised he didn’t pitch a chess game or something like that.” Neville mock whispered, which received laughter from everyone.

“I was thinking something a bit more laid back. Like a swing set, and a few games. But I really like a lot of these ideas.” Hermione said, looking up from her notebook, which she had been scribbling in. “Maybe there’s a way we could combine them?”

“Hmm, combine them.” Harry said, reaching for an apple slice, which fell from his fingers as he contemplated the suggestion. “So, like, a pirates den with swings and a slide, maybe a cargo net climbing challenge, and catwalks. Then a castle a bit apart, with a moat and drawbridge, maybe a jousting line or whatever you call it, and a tower of course. Then in between we could put a line of tables for chess or card games, which might be mostly for adults and older kids there to keep an eye on the young ones. And perhaps a small wading pool, so the small kids don’t have to risk being caught in an undertow, or being pulled out by the tide.” Hermione was scribbling furiously again, trying to catch everything Harry was saying it seemed, as everyone else grew more and more excited. “Hmm, anything else? Did I miss anything, or does anyone have any other ideas?” He asked as he refocused on the group.

“Blimey, that’s a great idea Harry.” Ron said, mouth gaping. “I knew you guys said he was smart, but that’s just incredible that is.”

“That’s our Harry-kins, Ronnie.” The twins said in unison.

“I’m excited, should we get started or does anyone need anything first?” Luna asked looking around.

“Let’s go!” Cried a pair of insane redheads as they leapt to their feet and began hauling they’re younger brother towards the door. This was made even more hilarious to the group as Ron had just picked up a sandwich, which he was now attempting to stuff into his mouth despite both his arms being held by his brothers. With many giggles the group followed after the redheads down towards the far end of the beach.

As the sun was setting that night, a tired and happy Harry Potter sank onto his deck chair once more, cup of tea in hand. Thinking back over the day he smiled. They hadn’t managed to actually get anything built for the kids play area. Instead they mapped out what they wanted to build and made a list of the materials they would need. Interspersed with conversation, meal breaks, the occasional kiss, and throwing each other into the water.

Altogether a good day, and just the break from focusing on his projects that Harry had needed. Luna was a genius, she apparently had noticed that he had been getting stressed and came up with the perfect way to help him relax. Or possibly she had just wanted to spend a day with friends herself, and it just happened to coincide with Harry’s stress levels going too high.

The only downside of the day had been the lack of completing any more paintball guns. Though considering that they already had enough ready to outfit the entire combat group, plus a few extra, it wasn’t actually necessary for him to work on those every day. Plus they should have more people coming in soon, which meant he would be able to train some others in how to put them together. Freeing him for the other work, and projects.

Before he could begin stressing on that, there was a knock at the door. “Come in.” He called, tapping the small rune by his chair that unlocked the door. Turning to see who had come to join him, he got a surprise.

The surprise was not the visitor. Indeed Sirius was a common visitor. The surprise was that the still wanted fugitive was dressed for travel. “What’s up Sirius?” He called waving for the man to join him on the deck.

“Evening pup.” Sirius answered, stepping out into the evening air. “How was your day?”

“It’s been a good day. Why are you avoiding my question? And why are you dressed like you plan to go off the island?” Harry found that he suddenly couldn’t swallow, a lump seemed to have formed in his throat.

“Did I ever tell you about the Order of the Phoenix pup?”

“Umm, not that I recall off hand.” The lump receded partly, allowing Harry to breathe again, though it did not go away completely.

“Well, the Order was a group that Dumbledore started during the last war. It was made up of people willing to fight, or sometimes help in other ways, against the death eaters. A bit like the Alliance is now, only smaller, and obviously, headed by Dumbledore.”

“Okay, what does that have to do with now?”

“Well, he’s started it back up. Apparently it took a couple of weeks to find a location for headquarters, and to get all the invitations out. Remus and I, along with Molly and Arthur, have been invited to join.” Seeing Harry about to interrupt he held up a hand. “We haven’t agreed. We did decide that it would be worth attending the meetings though. It will give us a chance to find out what the old man is doing, and possibly find some more recruits for the Alliance.”

The lump wasn’t going away. This sounded rather dangerous. “Okay, I take it there’s a meeting tonight?”

“Yep, we’ll be heading out in a few minutes. Dobby is taking us, harder to track that way. We should be back in a couple of hours, three or four at the most. Would you like for us to let you know when we get back, or would you rather wait till morning?”

“Check when you get back. I might fall asleep, but I kinda doubt it.”

“You got it pup. Love you.”

“Love you too Padfoot.”

Sirius offered a hug, which Harry gladly accepted before heading out to join the other three adults who were waiting just outside.

Now worried what might happen to his godfather, Harry had a hard time relaxing. Fortunately a distraction soon appeared in the form of the twins.

“Good evening Harry-kins.” They said together when Harry opened the door. “We were hoping you might spare us a few minutes of your time.”

Chuckling, Harry waved them in. “You two wierdos. Want something to drink? Tea’s ready, or I have some soda’s in the icebox if you prefer.”

“Tea’s good.” Fred said. “Would you mind George?”

“Sure thing Fred.” George responded and went to the kitchen.

“We should probably sit, Harry. This might take a few minutes.” Fred stated, turning to the younger man.

“Sure, deck alright? Or would you rather stay inside?”

“Deck’s fine.”

Nodding, Harry moved to the outside door and waved Fred through. Leaving the door open, for George, he sat in his usual chair and picked up his cup. “So what’s up?” He asked.

“Well, you know this will be our last year at Hogwarts right?” George said coming through the door and offering a cup to his brother.

“Yeah, I think Hermione is already planning your graduation party.” Harry replied with a fond smile.

“I can see that.” Fred chuckled. “We were debating whether it was even worth going back. But then we thought it would be our last year to share with you guys, and it would be a shame to waste that.”

“Yeah, how could you turn down the chance to prank with us?” Harry pouted at the two of them.

“Exactly.” George commented. “So we decided to go ahead and do it.”

“But we aren’t going to waste our last year.” Fred jumped in. “We’re going to use the opportunity to chat up everyone we can. Really get to know what the average Hogwarts student needs from a joke shop. We’ve been planning to open one for a while now, as you know.”

“And we already have a few products ready, but we could use a few more.”

“Unfortunately, with the war brewing, we weren’t sure it would be as good of an idea as we originally thought.”

“So we wanted to get your opinion.” As George finished speaking they turned questioning eyes on him.

Harry blinked and considered the question. On the one hand, war was hardly the place for joking around. On the other, they would need something to keep morale up. And this was rather like his own question of what to do after. This was the twins dream, their goal, their reason for fighting. If they couldn’t do it, what was there for them to do. Other than produce things that ultimately would wear them down, because it wasn’t what they wanted.

Finally he looked back up at the eager faces of his two closest male friends and allowed a smile full of wicked amusement to creep across his lips. “I’d say that I enjoy laughter, and pranks. And that if you don’t open your shop, I would be very disappointed.”

Half a heartbeat, that’s how long it took for Harry’s response to register and the twins to smile back.

“We were hoping you’d say that Harry.” Fred said cheerily. “Or at least, something like that anyway.”

“So that brings our next question. Which we know you can’t really answer, but you can back us up when we go to the adults.” George continued.

“We were wondering if we could use one of the empty shops on the main floor.” Fred finished.

“One of the..” Harry trailed off. “Well, that would be pretty cool, and would be great later, when the hotel is actually open to the public. You’re right, I can’t make that decision alone. But I’d be glad to back you up when you talk to John about it.”

“John?” The two asked together. 

“Yeah. He’s decided that he wants to retire from dentistry and take over running the resort when this is over. Since technically he’s a part owner he has a say in how it runs anyway, and neither I nor Sirius is interested, so we agreed. We do have a say in what shops are allowed to operate here, and I’m sure Sirius would be glad to offer you space, so the only person you really need to convince is John.”

“Can you help us?” George asked.

“Sure, though I’m not entirely sure what he’ll want. Let’s discuss what you have ready for a bit, so I can at least answer any questions he asks me.”

“Sure, how about over a game of exploding snap?” Fred asked pulling a deck out of his pocket.  
The next few hours got lost in a flow of conversation and exploding cards.

Eventually there was another knock on the door. At Harry’s call of, “come in,” Sirius and Remus entered the suite.

Standing from the table, Harry rushed to hug his godfather and honorary uncle. “How was the meeting?” He asked once he was sure they were both unharmed.

It was Remus who answered, Sirius being too busy checking Harry over to comment. “The meeting was odd Mister Digger.” He said in an offhand voice that seemed wrong.

“Why Mister Mooney.” Fred said from the table where he and George were packing up the game they had been playing. “You sound like you want some other people here.”

Sirius raised hooded eyes to the twins. “Perhaps, Mister Chaos and Mister Bandit. We might feel a need for Miss Hunter and Miss Hugs to join us.”

“Maybe even Mister Flutters and Miss Clever, if they are nearby.” Added Remus.

Blinking the three young Marauders shared a look before the twins leapt to their feet. “We’ll get Hermione and Luna. Neville and Susan are at home, Harry can you get them with the portals?”

Harry was already moving towards the door. “Be back in about ten minutes. The portals are down stairs.” He called over his shoulder.

It took only eight minutes to gather everyone. Neville and Susan had rushed to join them when Harry had shown up at their homes. The only oddity was the addition of Amelia, Susan’s aunt, who had insisted on accompanying her niece on an outing with a boy in the middle of the night.

“So what’s this about?” Asked the older woman when they had all gathered around the table, cups of tea in hand. Sirius and Remus had used the time the others were away to replenish the supply, and set out a plate of biscuits.

“Go ahead Remus.” Sirius motioned to the werewolf. “You tell it better.”

Shaking his head at his friend, Remus began. “Okay, quick recap for those who weren’t here earlier. During the last war with the death eaters, Headmaster Dumbledore started a group of like minded individuals to fight against them. This was after it had become clear that the Ministry had been infiltrated and at least some of the Aurors subverted. The group was called the Order of the Phoenix. Ultimately the group was not very successful, simply put, we lost more people than we helped, and we had nothing to do with the downfall of the death eaters. Tonight, Albus called for the Order to reconvene. We met at a property I think he owns, which he is planning on putting under the fidelius sometime in the next week.”

“Mooney, you’re stalling. Get to the good part.” Sirius interrupted.

“I’m getting there. They need a bit of background information in order to understand. Sorry everyone. To continue. The meeting tonight was to determine who was willing to be involved and able to do what jobs for the Order. He wants me to approach the werewolves. He’s asked Moody to screen the current Aurors in hopes of finding any who would be willing to join. Most of the Order has been instructed to locate possible new recruits in fact. But the part that concerns you Harry, he wants us to guard a prophecy.”

“Oh not that useless thing.” Harry and Neville cried out together.

Amelia swung her head round to stare at the two young teens. “I take it you know about this?” She asked them, then before they could answer turned back to the other two adults. “What is this prophecy?”

Remus waved at Harry and Neville. “I expect they can explain it best.”

Neville motioned for Harry to take the lead, and Harry began to explain. “Neville’s uncle is an unspeakable. A couple of years ago, he contacted the two of us about a prophecy that referred to one of us. Dumbledore and Moldy both think it’s me, but it’s unclear. The prophecy gives no names, only vague descriptions which could by one interpretation mean me and Moldy, or by another mean Neville, of course the dark lord it refers to might be someone else entirely. It’s a complete waste of time to worry about it. Except that Dumbles is convinced and somehow so is Moldy. You said Dumbles is having you guard it?” He motioned back to Remus.

Sirius chose to respond. “Sort of. Only the unspeakables are allowed into the prophecy chamber without an escort, so instead of guarding the prophecy directly, he wants to guard the entrance to the Department of Mysteries.”

“What kind of guard?” Amelia asked, eyes narrowed.

Remus answered. “A single individual, under an invisibility cloak, stationed near the entrance. The idea is that we can watch, and if anyone shows up, call for help.”

“An alert ward could do that.” Hermione almost shrieked. “And it wouldn’t risk being caught or used against you.”

“I expect Bill could figure one out that they would have trouble noticing, or tearing down if they did.” Harry stated blandly. “I’d offer my own services, but I haven’t learned enough yet to do it myself.”

Amelia shot him a calculating look. Then returned her attention to the older men. “You realize that is borderline illegal. And if Sirius were caught it would be extremely bad for everyone involved. Fudge is working on ousting Dumbledore from the Wizengamot. If any of you were caught and questioned, it would give him the leverage he needs.”

Sirius and Remus held up placating hands, as if to say it wasn’t their doing. Sirius spoke. “Calm down. We won’t be involved in that, for pretty much the reasons you mentioned, plus he wants Remus doing other things. Which we never agreed to anyway. Personally we like Harry’s plan better.”

“It isn’t really my plan Padfoot.” Harry interjected.

Smiling broadly at his godson, Sirius continued. But we thought we might be able to find some more people willing to join the Alliance, and to learn what Dumbles was up to if we went.”

“Which you did.” Fred and George said together.

“Indeed,” Remus started. “We know that Dumbledore is fixated on Harry. He asked a great many questions about you Digger. Mostly to do with how you’re getting along in dueling.”

Sirius made a face. “I think he really does believe the prophecy Harry. That you are the only one who can beat old Moldy shorts.”

“It’s Moldy Fart, Sirius.” Said George with a smile.

Fred had to add to his twins thoughts. “Yeah, you coined it, come on.”

“Leaving all that aside.” Susan spoke up. “What does that mean for our plans?”

Sirius answered. “Nothing really. Obviously we won’t be joining in guarding the prophecy. Nor would we buy into the idea that only Harry can fight. So it changes nothing.”

“However,” Remus said, getting a number of looks. “We did manage to connect with Moody, who promised to send any new recruits our way before he sends them to Dumbledore.”

After that the discussion descended rapidly to the realm of small talk, and soon enough everyone was packing up to head home. Within a few minutes Harry was left alone to consider what he had learned. Though he was supposed to be heading for bed.

Try as he might, sleep failed to come, and long before the sun rose he was pacing his rooms with a cup of strong tea, considering his options.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I imagine someone will say something about Malfoy in the opening scene. It will be explained in story eventually, but not for several chapters. So, just to avoid the argument, Malfoy is being impersonated here. I won't say by who though, keep reading to find out.


	64. Chapter 64

Dear Viktor,  
I bet you’re surprised to hear from me so soon. I was a little surprised myself when I realized you might actually be the perfect person to help me with a problem. I have a project that I’m working on this summer, that I lack the knowledge for. Unfortunately that knowledge is considered “dark” by the british Ministry of Magic. Which means I can’t find it anywhere near here. I was hoping you might be able to tell me of someone who would have access to the information I need. It has to do with soul magic, which is deeply frowned upon here, so please don’t tell anyone. If you can’t help, I understand, it’s kind of an obscure branch of magic. If you can, try to be a bit more vague in your reply than I have been. Just in case.  
I look forward to seeing you at the Bulgarian finals in August.  
Harry James Potter.

Viktor sipped thoughtfully at his morning coffee as he lay the letter beside his oatmeal. As it happened, he did know someone who could probably help his young friend. Unfortunately, getting ahold of the man was difficult. Karmon Grim was an odd man, who had graduated from Durmstrang in Viktor’s fourth year. Viktor had been assigned to him when he started at the school, and they had grown, not close, but cordial. They had often discussed theory during free time. And Karmon had been fascinated by the soul arts, as he called them, and had planned on pursuing a mastery. They exchanged correspondence occasionally, but that was all at the moment. He would have to write to Karmon and hope he got a reply soon enough to make a difference to Harry.

Reaching for a quill and parchment he began to plan out two letters. The first to Karmon, the second to Harry, letting him know that he was working on getting him an answer.

In the end it took most of a week to get the reply he needed. Karmon would be available for a consult on July 27th after handling something he wouldn’t divulge via owl. But he would be in west Germany, and anyone who wanted to see him would have to be there as well.

Once again he reached for parchment and hoped the letter would get to Harry in time.

The little magical cafe, situated a block from the German Gringotts branch, was a nice break from the sightseeing Harry had been engaged in for the last few days. It had taken three days to make the arrangements once he had gotten Viktor’s reply to his request for assistance. Then the entire family had decided to join the trip.

They had arrived in Germany three days before the scheduled meeting, and promptly became the worst kind of tourists. They had zig-zagged across the country trying to see every important or interesting site they could get to in the two days they had. Today they had explored the magical sites of Berlin, which were numerous. So many in fact that Harry was unsure if he could recall any of them. They had rushed from location to location, hardly pausing to do more than take a photo and read a plaque.

Hermione was even more annoyed than Harry and had vowed to return without the others so she could properly explore. Harry had offered to join her.

But now it was nearing time for his meeting with the mysterious Karmon Grimm, who would hopefully be able to assist him with his horcrux problem. So the rest of the family was shopping in Berlin’s version of Diagon alley, while he sat and tried to wait calmly.

Fortunately, he did not have to wait long for company. He had been there only about four minutes when Viktor sank into the seat across from him and waved to a server weaving through the outdoor tables nearby.

“Good afternoon Harry. I hope your trip was pleasant.” The quidditch star smiled.

“The beginning was.” Harry replied, returning the smile. “But then the sightseeing came. I’ve seen more of Germany in the last two days than I expect most people who live here see in a lifetime.”

Krumm threw his head back and laughed. I forget the joy of travel sometimes. We did the same in Britain last year. Every few days a bunch of us from Durmstrang would take a trip to a famous location. It was actually listed as part of our history class. The instructors said it was a valuable opportunity, that we would be fools to pass up. I think it was actually a good excuse they could use to get away from Hogwarts, and maybe lecturing.” He said and winked.

Harry joined in the laughter. “Admittedly, that would be more fun. We saw so many places that we didn’t actually get to enjoy any of them. I’d rather have seen a few places, and have time to really see them. I’m already planning a return trip in order to see things properly. Hermione and Luna want to as well.”

“You should let me know when you do. If I can get away from quidditch, I would enjoy that as well.” The older said and turned to the server who had finally made it to the table. He ordered a strong coffee and turned back to Harry. “This is probably not the place for the discussion you wish to have. But is a good place to meet. I expect my friend will be here in about ten minutes. It is considered polite to share a cup and light conversation before getting to the important stuff. I hope you don’t mind.”

Harry considered the advice for a moment and replied. “That’s fine. It’ll give me a chance to sound him out and see if I feel I can trust him. Besides, a chance to relax is welcome.”

With that they fell to small talk, whiling away the time as they waited for Karmon.

As explained by Viktor, when Karmon eventually arrived they had shared a pot of tea and discussed the weather, along with the various quidditch teams, and who was going to be invited to join the next national team for the World cup.

That had taken most of an hour, and Harry had found it both frustrating and enlightening. Frustrating because he really needed to get some information, and find out not only if their companion could help, but also if he would help. Enlightening because he was able to learn that the man enjoyed a great many things, apart from magical study. They had even discussed where the best fishing in the area was to be found.

But now at last they were retireing from the cafe to a small private room where they could discuss business. It was time to get to work.

“So, you wanted to speak with me on a matter concerning the soul arts?” Karmon Grimm opened the meeting.

Glad to have the subject broached, Harry nodded. “Yes that’s right. Do you know anything about horcruxes?”

Viktor leaned back against one wall. This was not his meeting in any way, so he was staying out of it, unless he needed to intervene if a fight broke out.

Grimm scratched at his chin for a moment then shook his head. “The term is unfamiliar. Though I may know of the subject by a different name. What do these horcruxes do?”

Harry drew in a deep breath, and with a slightly apprehensive look, began to explain. “Well, a horcrux is a container in which a piece of one’s soul is placed. So long as the horcrux remains safe the creator of it can’t be killed. They can be disembodied but.” He was cut off by a raised hand.

“Phylactery, is another term for these things. They are dangerous, for a variety of reasons. No sane person would make one, unless they did not know the cost. When you shave off a piece of your soul, you take away part of what makes you, well, you. Your sanity, your personality. There was a mistress of the arts many centuries ago, who made four. At the end she was a quivering wreck of a person, barely able to string a sentence together. She ended her days locked in a pitiful mockery of a life. Living in a mud hut she had enchanted to fly around the countryside. She was known only as Baba Yaga.” At the mention of that name Krumm flinched and looked around as though he expected someone to walk out of the shadows. “Relax Viktor, she has been dead for many years.”

“Easy for you to say. You didn’t grow up on bedtime stories of the witch who stole children to make into soup.” The quidditch star whispered back.

Hiding a grin at the realization that Moldy wasn’t the only person to be so frightening that people were afraid of their name, Harry motioned for Karmon to continue.

Not hiding his grin at all, Grimm winked and continued his outline. “So, phylacteries are very bad, both for the creator, and everyone else. The smart thing to do if one is found is simply to destroy it. For those creators who are intelligent, this will be difficult as they will have layered in protective enchantments. Though it is possible to make them weak, fragile, it is unwise if you wish the thing to persist. Why do you ask about them?”

“Have you heard of the dark lord, Voldemort?” Harry asked, taking the roundabout way to his question. Karmon nodded slowly, a pensive expression stealing over his face. “He made six that we know of.”

Harry had to stop speaking at that moment as Grimm had spit his tea out. All over Harry. A few quick cleaning spells got them back in presentable shape.

“Six!” Grimm exclaimed. “He is insane, vastly, superiorly, stupidly, insane. Six, how can he even function. Have any of them been discovered? Destroyed?” He gave Harry such a beseeching look that Harry wanted to console the man.

“Yes.” He started wanting to get the good news out there to begin with. “Okay, this may take a minute. There was a diary that possessed a student. I destroyed that one in my second year. Bill and I found a ring hidden in an old shack, that one I destroyed this summer. Just a few days ago, actually. There is a locket, a cup, and a tiara, those three are in lockboxes, and are the reason I wanted to talk to you.” He paused, hoping to get a fresh measure of Karmon’s mood. He was very upset a moment ago, and Harry didn’t expect that to change, but he could hope.

Karmon lost the fight to remain silent and wait for further explanation. “That’s five, you said there were six. And why have you not destroyed these other three?”

Holding up a placating hand, Harry continued. “Those three haven’t been destroyed because they are priceless historical artifacts. I’ve been looking for a way to transfer the soul pieces into something else so the artifacts themselves can be saved. I’ve had no luck, hence seeking a master of soul magic.” He pointed to Grimm, then slowly raised his hand to his forehead to reveal the lightning scar. “As for the sixth, that was me. We don’t know for certain how, but when he tried to kill me, whatever happened, a piece of his soul lodged in this.” He tapped the scar for emphasis. “When I was six, I had an accident. I was dead for almost a minute. I got to visit with my parents for a bit in the in between place.” A soft smile ghosted across his face as he recalled the memory of meeting his parents. “The soul fragment was taken, so that one is gone. There are only the three left. I’ll destroy them if I have to, but I was hoping there might be a way to save the artifacts.”

By the end of Harry’s speech Grimm was looking rather grim. And thoughtful. “It’s possible. But it's very difficult. And requires the same amount of energy involved in making a phylactery in the first place. Which is rather a lot. It calls for a life sacrifice. The intentional murder of a fellow human being. Which I am not willing to do.” He gave Harry a serious look. “I am afraid that unless you can find someone who is, you have little choice.”

Harry matched his thoughtful look for a moment, then his eyes widened. “What if it didn’t? Didn’t require a sacrifice I mean. One of my ancestors, a great, great, however many greats, grandfather, came up with a way to store magical energy for ritual work. Specifically so he wouldn’t have to kill anyone for high energy requirement rituals. I’ve been meaning to experiment with them, I just haven’t had a reason to. I started one once, but I haven’t checked on it in a while, so I don’t know if it’s ready or not.” He trailed off, lost in the memory.

“Well, if they work, then that would be possible. But I would have to examine this storage method and the energy contained within to determine if it is viable. And we would need at least three, one for each phylactery. Preferably more though, as it may take multiple attempts to get the ritual correct.”

“All the stuff is back home. Umm, crap.” Harry trailed off again, this time thinking about the ramifications of bringing a new person to the island. “We are currently in war prep. Moldy is back and we don’t know for sure what he’s doing. We’ll need assurances that you won’t share anything you learn about us with anyone. I imagine the adults will want you to sign the same contract as the Alliance members. Though maybe not, it depends. Basically, can’t invite you there without agreement from several others. If you…”

A raised hand stopped him. “I understand. Your’s would not be the first well guarded home I’ve visited. I will agree to whatever reasonable terms are required for everyone’s safety. Are the people I would need to work those details out with here today?”

“Some of them are yes.” He checked his watch. “And I’m supposed to be meeting them in about twenty minutes. Would you care for another cup of tea while we wait?”

“Gladly, let us clear our heads of these heavy topics, and discuss something light.”

There was a bear in Harry’s room when they returned to the island the next day. The discussions had gone well, Karmon easily agreeing to sign the secrecy contract. He would be joining them on the island at the end of the week.

However all thoughts of Karmon Grimm, and horcruxes, were driven from his mind at the sight of a large Panda seated in the main room of his suite, head cocked to one side, peering at him.

“Luna?” He asked as he hung his cloak on the coat tree by the door.

A low chuffing sort of sound emanated from the bear, which Harry took to mean yes.

“I hope you aren’t naked under there Luna. I’ve already had a talking to by, well, all three dads.”

“Rawr.” Was her response. A paw rose and waved at him. Smiling gently he walked over and wrapped the bear in a hug. As usual, the bear returned the hug, rolling over onto her back and pinning Harry in place with her arms. “Raw.” She repeated, in a low growl.

Reaching up to scratch behind her ears, which he knew she enjoyed, Harry grinned. “You know, even if you are naked again, and planning to get me in trouble with our various parents, you’re still pretty awesome.” Then he wiggled an eyebrow at the great fuzzy panda and reached around to the spot he had found where she was ticklish even in this form and unleashed an attack which soon had her rolling in great snorts of bear laughter.

“Rawr.” She scratched at him, almost roughly, as she fought for control. Her claws caught on his robes which tore down the seam. In a bid to end the tickling she opened her mouth and gave a long lick across his face.

“Eew, Luna.” He cried face now covered in bear slobber.

“Hah, hah, hah.” The panda made a chuckling noise and began to shrink. In a moment there was a cute little blonde in Harry’s arms, rather than the enormous black and white bear. She wiggled around until she was wrapped around him and snuggled her face down into the crook of his neck and whispered. “You deserved that. I can’t laugh properly as a bear.”

Squeezing her a little tighter, Harry giggled. “I know, but I can’t kiss you when you’re a bear either.”

Smiling, Luna looked up into his shining emerald eyes and gave him a peck on the end of his nose. “You know what else I can’t do as a bear?” She asked, hiding her face back against his neck.

“No, what?”

He felt her smile grow. “I can’t tickle you back.” Before he could respond her fingers were digging into his ribs, one hand dropping down to the back of his knee, a particularly ticklish spot on him.

The room rang with giggles and shouts for several moments, during which Harry barely noticed when Luna threw his torn robes to one side, granting herself easier access to his sides and arms. It didn’t take long though for them to fall in a heap of tangled arms and legs, heaving for breath and still giggling.

“That was fun.” Luna said between chuckles. “We need to do it more often.” She reached up and stroked his hair down where it had gotten even more out of control than usual. “You’ve been so busy the last couple weeks, we’ve barely had time to say hello, let alone actually spend time together.”

Reaching up to run a knuckle down her cheek, Harry smiled a bit sadly. “Yeah, there’s been so much to do. And with moldy back, I don’t know if it’s going to slow down much. Which means we should take every moment we can, I guess.” He leaned forward and repeated her earlier gesture, pecking her nose gently. “I was thinking of visiting the training yard next week, see what their doing and ask about spending a day or two with them. Would you like to join me?”

Head cocked to the side, Luna looked very thoughtful for a minute. “Yes, but that’s not really what I meant. I was thinking more like little things. Maybe going swimming, or sharing a meal. Or stuff like this, where we just snuggle for a bit.” She suited action to words and wiggled a little closer, wrapping her arms a little tighter around him.

“Hmm, I do like that too. What do you have planned for tomorrow?”

“Nothing. I finished all my summer homework, and wrote an article for the Quibbler about our trip already.”

“Well, the only thing on my to do list, is identifying which books I’ll need to find a way to get rid of Snape’s mark, then ordering them. If you want to help with that, together we should have it done in a couple hours. Then I’ll be free for the rest of the day. I’d be up for whatever you want to do.”  
That won a smile from the blonde, and she leaned up to kiss him properly.

“There’s a book daddy showed me.” Luna whispered, her mouth against his ear.

Harry shivered. “What kind of book?” He asked in chirp. His voice cracking.

“It’s called the Tao of Sexology.” Harry blinked down at his girlfriend. Was she saying what he thought she was saying he wondered. “My mum brought it to the library when they married. Dad showed it to me just before we left for the trip. He told me about how for their honeymoon, they sat and read it together, and tried new things together. And when they were done, I was growing in mum’s belly.”

Harry considered this for a moment. It seemed that Luna might actually be hinting about sex. But then she also was hinting about what that could lead to. And an image of Luna pregnant swam into his head. For a moment a feeling of completeness swept over him. A sense of family and future he had never felt before. But that was thrown aside by the next image that appeared in his mind's eye. An image of Luna and their child under attack by death eaters. In that moment he knew more than he ever had before, that if he wanted a future, then he needed the death eaters and their master, gone.

“Luna, I..” He wasn’t sure what exactly he was going to say. Something he hoped, that would explain that he wanted all of that, but that it was too soon. However, he was prevented from continuing his thought by a voice from nearby.

Jean Granger, Harry’s defacto mother of three years now, spoke from only a few feet away. “Harry, Sirius got this working and I wanted to...What are you doing!”

In the blink of an eye, Harry could feel his entire body grow warm. His head whirled around to stare at a large mirror he hadn’t noticed during the greeting with Luna. And standing in the mirror was the woman he called mum. Although at that moment he wished she was anywhere else. A quick check showed him that Luna hadn’t moved, she was curled against him, completely naked, and from where Jean was she probably couldn’t tell that Harry still had his boxers on. Which meant she was probably thinking there was more happening here than actually was. Realizing he needed to diffuse this situation as quickly as he could, he opened his mouth to speak. “Umm, it’s not what you think.”

“It had,” she started but was cut off by someone else joining her in the mirror.

John Granger looked down on his de facto son. And what he saw almost made him burst out in hysterical laughter. The poor boy was almost glowing in his embarrassment, while the adorable blonde wrapped around him, was shaking slightly in what he instantly recognized as mirth. Still this was hardly the time to be laughing, his wife would do something he would regret if he did that. So he put on his best scowl. “Harry, that is hardly appropriate. I’m going to turn away, and when I return, I expect you to be more presentable.” Then he walked away from the mirror.

Harry tried to open his mouth again, but was interrupted by Hermione’s appearance in the mirror. Oh great this is all I need. He thought to himself before she spoke.

“Oh is it working? Hey Harry how are, Luna put some clothes on.”

That was too much for Luna, she threw her head back and let out a howling laugh that felt like it would shake the entire floor of the hotel. Harry was brought along as she rolled over, kicking one leg against the sofa. He wanted to join in the laughter, but wasn’t sure if that would go over well with the other women or not.

“Well, at least he has something covering himself.” Jean said as she ushered Hermione away. “We’ll call back in a couple minutes. You two get dressed and don’t let me catch you like this again.” The mirror returned to its usual reflective state as she turned away.

Harry turned to his still laughing girlfriend and grinned. “I think we might be in a bit of trouble.”

She smirked up at him. “We could see if we can make it worse.” She said, wiggling her eyebrows.

“I think that would go badly for us.” He replied holding in a laugh. Then he leaned down to steal one more kiss before rising to his feet and helping her up. “Did you bring clothes with you to begin with?” He asked.

“Of course silly. They’re in your room.” She winked and ran off towards the bedroom, laughing again.

Harry shook his head and followed after her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not sure why I enjoy pranking Harry with naked Luna so much. But I really do, I was rolling on the floor when I wrote this. Which made it take forever.


	65. Chapter 65

The communication wall mirrors, were a hit. Once Sirius adjusted them so that a call had to be accepted before the calling person could see anything on the other side. Apparently getting several mirrors connected to each other had been the tricky part, which was what had taken so long. The basic enchantments had been intended for two mirrors, and he had spent six months redesigning the spell matrix so that each room had a mirror that could be connected with any other mirror in the hotel. Next he was planning to expand the network and include mirrors in the bungalows. Once he had that figured out, he thought he should be able to create smaller handheld ones that would be connected so the Alliance could keep in touch with all field groups. And also come September, the students would be able to keep in touch with their parents.

“So, these are the horcruxes?” Deep beneath the island, in a secure chamber, Karmon Grimm was inspecting the three most dangerous items in the Alliance possession. Three pieces of Voldemort’s soul contained within extremely valuable historical artifacts.

“That’s them all right.” Replied Remus Lupin, who had been volunteered as the chaperone for the trip. He, Harry, and Karmon, were the only living persons in the chamber. “They give me the creeps just being in the same room.”

Harry, who was standing back near the exit, added his own thoughts. “There’s a reaction if they come in contact with one another. Nothing terribly spectacular, but enough to be recognized.”

“Curious.” Karmon leaned in closer to the objects. “I’ve not had the opportunity to study the effects of making more than one. I wonder what they might be.” He trailed off.

“My great something grandfather experimented with that very question.” Harry commented. “The answer wasn’t pretty. The most noticeable effect was changes in physiology. The least noticeable, was also the most important. The soul and your magical core, are one and the same. Making even one, lessens your magical power, and permanently removes your ability to grow. Moldy made his first one while still a student at Hogwarts. Which means his magical growth ended when he was still a teen, and then he weakened himself, by basically, destroying bits of his own magical power.”

Grimm turned to look at Harry, a sour expression on his face. “So, he was reported as being as powerful as Dumbledore. But that was wrong?”

“Given the results he received in his classes, I expect that comparison was made while he was still a student. And it was meant as a comment on his potential, rather than his actual power.” Remus shared a slightly sad smile with Harry. “If he had waited, he might actually have been a match for Dumbledore. I expect he later realized his mistake, which is why he never challenged Dumbledore directly.”

“Makes sense.” Karmon stroked his beard.

“So, have you gotten enough of a look?” Remus asked, keen to change the subject.

“Yes of course. Now we must discuss this power source you mentioned Harry. How does it work?”

Harry nodded and motioned to the exit. “Let’s talk about that somewhere more comfortable.”  
In Harry’s sitting room at the top of the hotel, the three were joined by Sirius, who had made tea.  
“So the making of an energy crystal. Takes time and a special process.” Harry began the explanation after a long sip of his tea. “Anywhere from a couple of months to a decade, depending on how much energy is to be stored, and how it is being acquired. I’ve already begun the process, as I figured it would be needed. However, I don’t actually know how much energy is needed, so it’s difficult to say how long it will take. I can say with certainty that stage one is done.”

“How can you be sure of that?” Karmon asked setting his own cup on the table.

“Simple, the first step is the brewing of the potion that forms the base of the crystal. It’s the same for any crystal you want to grow, so step one was simply brewing three of them.”

Karmon blinked. Sirius and Remus chuckled. “Well that’s.” They all three said together and stopped. Sharing looks, Sirius and Remus motioned for the newcomer to continue. “Very useful. So we can begin immediately then?”

“As soon as we know how much power is needed, yes.” Harry answered. “Do you by chance know the precise amount required?”

“Unfortunately, no. I’ve never performed this particular ritual before. While I know how it is done, I have no first hand experience to draw on. You said your grandfather did some of this, did he leave notes I could look through?”

Nodding, Harry rose and walked over to his bookshelves. A wave of his wand moved one to the side revealing the hidden portion which contained his family journals. Drawing the one he needed he returned the shelves to their previous positions and turned to the table. He paused, his eyebrows drawn together in a moment of thought. Then he turned back to the shelves, and opened a second hidden shelf. From this he drew three more books, then closed the shelf again. Handing the books to Karmon he spoke. “There is a ward on the room which prevents these books from leaving. Nothing harmful, it simply returns the journals to the shelf if any attempt to remove them is made. If you need anything copied out, I can do that for you, otherwise it has to be done by hand. The first is my grandfathers research, these three are copies we stole from Moldy’s library. He made notes in the margins of several of them, I haven’t managed to go through all of them yet, but they may help.”

Nodding, Grimm paged through the journal. “It may take some time to find the information we need. In the meantime, I would recommend that we get started growing those crystals. Regardless, I would expect to need them stronger than a few days growth.”

“I’ll have them started tonight.” Harry raised his cup in a mock toast, which was joined by the others. “Hopefully it won’t take too long.”

July 29th was cool, in the vicinity of the Granger of home. Hermione and Jean were out late, shopping. There was a plan in place for Harry’s birthday. The plan had been birthed in the slightly spotty mind of Luna Lovegood. The Granger women loved it.

The plan began with a surprise party. Harry would be kept away for the morning by his godfather and honorary uncle. Sirius and Remus had worked out a schedule of diving, partly to check the ward lines around the island, but mostly for fun. They would return for lunch, where they would find all of Harry’s friends waiting to greet them and start the real party.

Luna had originally recommended traditional wizard party games. Pin the wings on the snitch, guess the flavor(sometimes called don’t chuck it) in which the participants are given bertie botts beans and have to attempt to guess the flavor of the bean, bobbing for apples, except the apples are floating in a potion which changes your hair colour(Sirius loved that one), a wizarding pinata, which is different from the muggle version because instead of a bat kids launch bottle rockets at a cauldron full of sweets, And finally zentoss, which once it was explained to them the Granger women liked even if it was a bit simple it was still kind of like a wizarding version of trivial pursuit.

The twins had proposed the perfect compromise, in which everyone would bring along their favorite party games, and then anyone who wanted to join in could do so.

From there it was just a matter of working out the details. Molly was taking care of the food. Hermione and Jean had drawn decorations duty. While John, Arthur, and Xeno were in charge of getting everyone there, quietly.

Which is why they were out late on a Thursday evening, shopping. They had left it to almost the last minute when they suddenly remembered that they had forgotten streamers, and ran out to a nearby party supply store. And of course while they were out, they remembered a few other things that would add to the fun atmosphere.

The two women were laughing together over some of the plans they had made for the party when something changed. The air around them grew cold. A sense of helplessness drew over their hearts. And unbidden a memory rose to Hermione’s mind.

Within her mind she saw again, the day Harry came into the small lab where they had been working on homework together with Fred, George, and Luna. He explained about not having proper guardians, and showed them the scars he carried from the Dursleys abuse.

While that event had resulted in Harry becoming her brother for real, something she had only felt like before. It was also one of the saddest, most painful experiences of her young life. To realize that some adults could do something like that, and to one of her friends. It had been hard to accept, and harder to move past and help Harry to heal. But why was she thinking of it just now, she wondered.

Then she saw it. Gliding toward them from a side street. Long tattered black cloak flapping in the breeze. The air around it seemed to condense as it moved, a horrid rattling sound as of someone trying to breath through an obstruction. Or perhaps trying to inhale bricks. Then it shifted to one side revealing another. Two, there were two, dementors coming towards her, and her mother.

“Do you feel that Hermione?” Jean asked, her voice almost inaudible.

Mum can’t see them, Hermione realized. Dementors are invisible to non-magicals. “Mum, mum we need to run.” She said, grabbing hold of Jeans arm and trying to drag her towards the house. A physical barrier could stop the creatures, or at least, slow them down.

But Jean Granger wasn’t moving. Or rather, she was moving, downwards. She slumped to the ground, tears spilling from her eyes. She seemed to be trying to say something, but with the dementors drawing closer Hermione was starting to get lost in her own thoughts.

A patronus, she thought. We need a patronus. But she had not had much luck with that spell, and hadn’t cast it in a while. But, it was the only thing that would save her, and her mother. So she had to do it.

Desperately she groped for a happy memory. She recalled Professor Lupin’s lecture on the subject. “It doesn’t need to be the happiest memory of your life, though the happier the memory you can draw on, the stronger you patronus will be.” She had always trusted teachers, and Lupin had been a very good teacher. She found what she thought was a good memory to use. Her and Harry and her parents snuggled on the sofa about to watch a Monty Python film, getting lost talking about some point of academia. It had been a fun night for all of them, and they had gone to bed with wide smiles, looking forward to more days like that.

“Expecto Patronum.” She cried, holding tight to the memory of that night. There was a rush of magic, and a spurt of silvery mist from her wand. But the dementors continued their glide towards the two women. “Damn it, why can’t I do it?” She was almost crying. She reached for another memory. Christmas with her family, the year before she left for Hogwarts. It was the last time all four grandparents had been there. Everyone had been laughing and sharing in the fun time of passing around presents. “Expecto Patronum.” She tried again. Nothing this time. No rush of magic, not even a twitch from her wand. They were getting closer, the dread she had been feeling since she first saw them was gripping her tightly.

Once more she saw Harry in her mind. His shirt hung from one hand as he pointed to a scar just above his hip. But then another memory crowded in. It wasn’t a happy memory. It was still Harry and he was explaining an answer he had given on a test that she had disagreed with. She had disagreed because his answer was different from what they had been told by Professor Lupin. He was explaining that when he called his own patronus, he didn’t think of a happy memory. Mostly because he didn’t have very many. Instead, he thought of his family and friends, and how he felt when he saw them all. He thought of all the love that was in his life now, and how he knew he could rely on them all.

Desperate for a way to make the spell work to save herself, and her mother, Hermione let go of her reliance on books, and listened to her brother. She thought about Harry, about her mum, and her dad. She thought about Fred and George, lovable obnoxious gits that they were. She thought about Luna, and her quiet, slightly crazy manner. She filled herself up with the love and acceptance they had all given her. Then she raised her wand. “Expecto Patronum!” She practically bellowed.

From her wand sprang a bright silvery animal. It gamboled in front of her for a moment and despite the situation she giggled at its antics. Then the little otter nodded and turned to face the oncoming dementors. There was a ripple in the air as it waved its paws, almost as though it really were swimming towards the creatures.

The dementors paused in their movement, now only a few feet away. Then, as the silvery otter reached them, they let out a screeching hiss and fled.

“Come on mum, we need to get inside. There could be more of them, and I don’t know if I can do that again.” She said, hauling her now gaping mother to her feet.

“Hermione, that was..” She trailed off.

“I know mum, I know. Come on, it's not safe out here.”

Straightening, Jean Granger grabbed the almost forgotten bags from the ground. “Yes, yes, you’re right. Let’s go.” And the two set off at the fastest walk they could manage.

“So, it started already.” Remus said to the gathered family. It had taken Jean and Hermione less than half an hour to return home, portal to the island, and explain what happened to the others. Now they were all gathered around a large table in the Granger suite on the top floor of the hotel.

“We should have a couple of us check the place over before you guys go back there.” Sirius stated motioning to John and Jean. “No offense, but you two can’t even see them.”

“None taken Sirius.” John said. “And I agree. Send a small team over to make sure it's clear. Then we should move here full time. It’ll be tough to rebuild later, but we knew we would have to shut down the practice eventually.”

“Agreed.” Jean added. “I’ve had the notice’s ready for a while now. We just have to send them out. We should consider packing up the practice though. Put everything into storage. If they decide to attack the business, we don’t want to lose everything.”

“I can help with that. And the house.” Molly placed a hand over Jean’s. “Don’t fret Jean dear. We’re all together here.”

“We’ll do the same with the Burrow.” Arthur nodded to his wife and children. “No sense in leaving anyone vulnerable.”

Sirius looked over at Xeno, almost expectantly. “Don’t look at me.” The older man said. “Luna and I moved everything important here at the beginning of the summer. Only took two trips.” He smiled. “Luna has become quite good with packing charms. And we have large trunks.”

A round of chuckles floated around the table. Then Fred and George spoke up. “What about the potion Professor Snape is working on? You know, the one that works like a patronus.”

Arthur smiled. “Fred, George, is the potion ready? Does Severus have a working recipe?”

“Umm, not sure. He didn’t when we last asked, but that was a week ago.”

“We’ll check with him later then. If he does we’ll take some with us. If not..” John trailed off.

“Then we’ll just have to stick with the already tested methods.” Remus finished the thought.

“Okay, so who’s going to the house?” Jean asked. “I want to get as much moved today as we can.”

Organizing took a few minutes, during which Xeno was sent down to ask Snape about the Patronus potion. Which was not yet ready, and apparently Snape had some choice things to say about being bothered by people asking about it. In the end, Remus, Arthur, and Xeno, went in first to insure safety, followed by John and Jean, until they were sure it was clear. Then everyone went and cleared out the Granger home as quickly as possible.

The following morning, John was sorting through the mail, when he called for everyone to join him again.

“Morning everyone.” John offered tea and coffee as the family gathered, the children still rubbing sleep from their eyes. “Something important came up as I was sorting the mail.” He held up three parchment envelopes.

“What is it John dear?” Molly asked.

“Probably the official warning from the ministry about underage magic.” Arthur said adding sugar to his coffee. “I’ll see if I can get it cleared up at work today.”

“Well, yes, and no.” John said opening the first parchment. “Listen to this.” He began to read. “Harry Potter, we have received intelligence that you have performed a Patronus Charm at thirteen minutes past eleven o’clock on the evening of the twenty ninth of July on Little Caring Way, a muggle populated area, and in the presence of a muggle. As you know this constitutes a breach of the reasonable restriction for underage wizardry. Pursuant to this crime you have been expelled from Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry. Please remain where you are, a ministry official will be along shortly to destroy your wand. Sincerely, Mafalda Hopkirk Office of Underage Magic, Ministry of Magic.” John looked up at the now rapt faces around him.

“But Harry wasn’t even there.” Fred, George, Ron, and Ginny said together.

“The Ministry does not have the authority to destroy your wand unless you have been found guilty of a major offense, which can only be done by the Wizengamot.” Arthur objected.

Sirius and Remus just growled, causing a few odd looks in their direction.

“They can’t do that.” Hermione stated in a small voice.

John held up a second envelope. “To continue.” He said catching everyone’s attention again. Unfolding this letter, he read. “Harry stay put, do not surrender your wand. I am handling things. Dumbledore.”

“Well, good advice, but what does he mean?” Xeno wondered out loud.

“Handling it, he says. Handling it how?” Arthur added, then motioned to John. “Perhaps one of the other letters will explain more.

Opening the third letter John continued reading aloud. “Mister Potter due to a conflict you shall be allowed to keep your wand for now. You will be required to appear before a hearing on the tenth of August at eleven in the morning in the Office of Underage Magic, at which time a final decision will be made. Sincerely, Mafalda Hopkirk Office of Underage Magic, Ministry of Magic.”

“Well, that’s slightly better than the first one. Still, there’s the problem that Harry wasn’t even there.” Molly said hauling Harry into a hug.

“Agreed.” Jean said. “How do we go about fighting this? I’m afraid I haven’t looked into this aspect of wizarding laws yet.”

“It should be a simple matter to clear up. I’ll ask at work to day and see what I can find out.” Arthur offered. “If it isn’t dropped by tonight though, you may have to go in and tell them directly that you weren’t there Harry.”

“Well, I suppose if I have to.” Harry replied trying to fight down the sense of foreboding in his gut. “Umm, should I write to Madam Bones? She might be able to help.”

“Well, it couldn’t hurt.” Remus finally spoke.

The following morning Harry, Jean and Molly made their way to the Ministry Offices. Arthur had learned that Minister Fudge was pushing for this hearing and that in order to get out of it, Harry would need to provide proof that he had not been in the area when the Patronus had been cast.

So they had two stops to make. First was to the DMLE offices to talk with Madam Bones. Then to the Office of Underage Magic to prove Harry’s non-presence in Crawley on the night in question.

“Good morning, what can I do for you?” Madam Bones asks when they finally get into her office.

“Good morning Madam Bones. We were hoping you would be able to assist us in clearing up some confusion.” Jean started.

Molly offered a copy of the first letter they had received from Mafalda Hopkirk. Amelia Bones took the letter and looked it over. As she looked up Molly spoke. “As you can see this is a problem. Except the real problem is that Harry wasn’t even in Crawley that day. He was out on the island.”

Amelia frowned. “Hmm, that is upsetting. Unfortunately, Fudge is really pushing for this. He wants an excuse to get rid of Harry, and I haven’t been able to make any headway in changing his mind. If you can prove that Harry wasn’t there, then they’ll have to drop the charges. Short of that though, there’s nothing that can be done.”

“Would a memory be proof enough?” Harry asked.

“Yes actually.” Amelia replied. “Are you willing to provide one?”

“Sure, I was getting into bed at that time.” Drawing his wand, Harry quickly provided the memory.

Amelia tapped the vial with her own wand and incanted. “Memoriam tempus.” A time and date appeared hovering over the vial for a moment. “That will do.” She turned to a cupboard and withdrew from it an old, clearly well used, pensieve. “We’ll take this down to the Underage Magic office and get you cleared up shall we.”

The meeting with Mrs. Hopkirk took a mere half hour. She kept trying to drag it out, except that Madam Bones glowered at her everytime she argued. Amelia had set down the pensieve when they arrived, shown the woman the memory and it’s time stamp. The two entered the pensieve, viewed the memory, and Madam Hopkirk had to admit that Harry was not at all involved in the casting of the Patronus. She still tried to insist that Harry would have to appear for a hearing though. Until Madam Bones threatened to arrest her for false charges against a minor, after that she was quick to drop the entire thing, and even expunged the incident from the record entirely.

With the meeting over, Madam Bones picked up her pensieve, nodded to Harry, Jean, and Molly, and returned to her own office. The family trio went down to Arthurs office to invite him out to lunch to celebrate.


	66. Chapter 66

“Come on Harry.” Remus called to the teen. “We’re going to be late if we don’t hurry.”

“Oh come on Mooney.” Sirius called back from his position next to Harry. “You can’t drag us both out of bed at three in the morning and expect us to be in a hurry.”

“It’s almost ten Padfoot. And I woke you up an hour ago.” Remus replied with an unimpressed look.

Sirius grumbled but said nothing. Harry simply tried to move a little faster. He had been surprised when the two men had barged into his room and rushed him through getting dressed and bolting down a quick breakfast, before dragging him out to the beach.

“You do know that it’s my birthday today, don’t you?” Harry asked as they loaded up the boat for a trip out on the water.

“Of course we do pup.” Sirius said with a half smile. “But we kind of left this till the last moment. We were supposed to check the lines last week, but we forgot.”

“So, we’re doing it today.” Remus added, carefully adding a backpack to the line of gear on the deck. Harry pretended not to notice the wrapped package hidden under the flap, which had opened briefly as it was hoisted onto the boat.

They had caught the tide just right, and the trip out to the first stop on the ward line was smooth. The air was only a little chill, with just a hint of spray. The late morning sun warming the surface of the ocean.

Harry was pleased to find himself relaxing as they cut through the waves, gently bobbing on the water. It had been a while since he had been out here, and he had nearly forgotten how quiet, and peaceful it was.

Until Sirius decided to start belting out an old pirate shanty. Which wouldn’t be too bad, except that Sirius couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket, and Remus wasn’t much better. Yet the werewolf couldn’t resist joining in whenever the mutt got going. Mostly in self defense, Harry joined the singing. If he was belting out the tune, then he couldn’t hear his godfather and honorary uncle as much. Which meant his ears were happier.

Then of course there was the time under the waves. They couldn’t sing underwater, in fact, they couldn’t talk at all. But they could see. The fish here were bright, colourful, and flitted around as they swam by. Down at the bottom, around the ward tubes and stones, shrimp, crabs, and the occasional octopus could be seen going about their business. Once in a while a dolphin would pass by, seeming to laughing at them.

As they climbed back onto the boat after the third stop, Remus finally decided to get to why they were really out here. Harry had determined at the first stop that there wasn’t actually much call for checking the line. The magic was solid, and there was no sign of anything being out of place. Which even if there had been elsewhere in the line, would have shown up as an anomaly anywhere else they looked.

“Okay cub.” Remus started still dripping. “I guess you’ve realized that we didn’t really need to check the line.”

Smiling, Harry replied. “Are you sure Mooney? I mean we haven’t checked everything yet.”

Sirius let out a bark of laughter. “Told you we couldn’t fool him for long Remus.”

“Right, well. We did have a reason to bring you out here. Two actually. And after some discussion, we decided to get the rough one out of the way first.”

“The rough one?” Harry asked, looking apprehensive.

“Which is why we brought you out here.” Sirius crowed, gesturing to the island. “The nearest place you can get back on land is round the beak there, almost a mile away.” He leaned back in his seat, folding his arms in triumph. “You’d like swimming that less than you want to deal with this. So we have a captive audience.”

“Sirius, you’ll scare him half to death. Stop that.” Remus offered Harry a thin smile, and set a butterbeer in front of him. “We heard about what happened with Luna the other day, from Jean. And we want to talk with you about responsibility.”

“Oh come on Mooney. We’re here to talk about sex.” Sirius cried opening his own butterbeer.

Harry turned a stricken face towards his godfather. He tried to speak, to explain that he’d already had that discussion with John, but his voice failed him, all that came out when he opened his mouth was a croaking sound that oddly reminded him of Trevor, Neville Longbottom’s toad.

“That’s the spirit Mister Digger.” Sirius raised his bottle in a toast. “We’ll teach you a few things that we had to learn the hard way.”

Remus dropped his face into his hands and lowered his head to the table. “I knew it was a bad idea to bring him along for this. Can you forgive me Harry?” He said, trying to hide his smirk.

“I’ll try Mister Mooney, but you might have to work for it.” Harry replied with an odd squeak to his voice. “But umm, John already talked to me about this stuff.”

“Oh, he did huh?” Asked Sirius. “Well then, let’s give you a little test and see what you remember.”

“Sirius,” Remus gave his best friend a telling look, “start with the important bits. Then you can ask about the other stuff if we have time. Example, what did John tell you about birth control Harry?”

Sirius smiled and turned a penetrating look on Harry. Harry gulped. “Umm, well, he said it’s very important to use so I don’t get anyone pregnant. And he said that condoms are the best choice, because they also prevent the spread of diseases.”

“Good, but inaccurate for wizards.” Sirius said, leaning forward. “There’s a potion you can take that will prevent you from getting a girl pregnant for a month. As for diseases, all the ones I know about are easily cured, Mooney, is that still right?”

“There are a few new ones that have cropped up in the last few years while you were away. Most of them can be cured, but there’s a couple that we haven’t found a cure for yet.” Remus gave Sirius a serious look. “Best to be careful if you plan to have any fun.” Turning back to Harry he continued. “A condom is a smart choice, however the potion is guaranteed to work. Hundreds of years of use, and it’s never failed, that I know of. There is no magical means of preventing the spread of STDs though, so the best advice I can give on that is simply to be careful about who you get involved with. I expect Luna would be safe.”

Harry felt his cheeks grow warm, and decided to stay silent.

“Okay, next question.” Sirius said. “What did John tell you about dating?”

Remus dropped his face into his hands again. “Sirius. What did I just say?”

“It’s okay Remus.” Harry squeaked, then took a deep breath and tried to relax. When he spoke again his voice was more normal. “He’s just excited, we should put a pad down incase he piddles on the floor.” He winked at Remus as Sirius sputtered. “To answer your question.” He returned his gaze to his godfather. “We talked about appropriate places to go for a date, and what to expect, and how to approach her parents.”

“All good things, we might want to go back over some of that.” Remus said. “As dates in the magical world would be a little different from dates in the muggle. But in general, I’m sure he gave you good advice.”

Sirius shot a wink at Remus, and waited for Harry to tip his butterbeer. “But what did he say about kissing?”

A moment later Sirius was wiping butterbeer from his face. Harry had snorted, and blew the beverage all over his godfather.

“You deserved that.” Remus said, offering Sirius a handkerchief.

Wiping his face, Sirius scowled at Harry, who was stifling a giggle. “Now you owe me cub. Come on, details. I wanna know everything. Kissing, sex, did he mention cunnilingus?”

“Sirius.” Remus bellowed. “Okay, maybe we should leave this discussion until after I’ve managed to thump some sense into Padfoot. Tell you what, let’s move onto the second reason we brought you out here.”

A smile spread across Sirius’ face. “We aren’t finished. But it can wait.” He reached over and flipped open the pack containing the wrapped package Harry had seen earlier. “This is for you pup, from both of us.”

Slightly shaky hands reached out to take the package. The paper tore away easily as Harry pondered what the two men might have gotten him that they couldn’t give him in front of others. Inside the plain box was a bundle of fabric wrapped in paper. It was dark with an odd pattern to it. Pulling it out of the box to examine closer it opened, revealing multiple pieces. Trousers, shirt, belt, robe and cloak. All in a dark scaled pattern. Peering closely he could just make out, blue, red, purple, green, and even grey, so dark they would appear to be black unless one looked very close. A veritable rainbow of shadow. With a start he realized what this was, basilisk hide. This was a suit of the armor the Alliance would wear into battle. It even had the symbol they had agreed on for the Alliance, done in grey only a little brighter than the surrounding scales on the left breast. Two crossed wands under a stylised crown.

Looking up at the two men Harry swallowed. “This is…” He couldn’t think of anything to say.

“Molly and Jean would react badly if they knew. So don’t tell them.” Sirius said.

“Probably best not to tell your friends either, for the moment.” Remus added. “None of the other students will get a suit. Only those who have graduated, so the twins can get theirs next summer, if they want. But we decided that you deserve one. If it weren’t for you, none of this would be happening. We want you to be safe.”

Overwhelmed, Harry threw himself upon his two favorite adults. Which he would later claim was an attempt to convince them to make suits for the other students as well.

“Surprise!” The yell of three hundred and fifty some odd guests waiting for them when they entered the dining hall hit Harry like a bludger to the face. He stumbled backwards, and would have fallen if not for Remus and Sirius holding him up.

“Happy birthday pup.” Sirius whispered to Harry as he pushed the younger forward. “Go spend time with your friends.”

The party was enormous. Almost every member of the youth core of the Alliance had come to celebrate. Bringing their parents with them. Games were set up everywhere, and adults had volunteered to be stationed next to each, to explain how it was played. And a long table had been set against one wall, and loaded with all manner of things, which were given out as prizes throughout the day. No one walked away empty handed, unless they chose to.

Harry was quickly surrounded by people. He was clapped on the shoulder so much he thought it would bruise. His hand shaken so much it was buzzing. And there were so many voices calling “Happy Birthday Harry” that he wondered if it was possible to go spontaneously deaf.

Despite all that, the party was a great deal of fun. The twins dragged him off to play a variety of games. Hermione nearly force fed him cake and ice cream, insisting that she had worked very hard to convince her parents to allow it. Which was belied by the adult Granger’s indulgent smiles when he saw them watching. Neville insisted on challenging Harry to hit the pinata before he did. Which was fun, even if Neville did win. Though it was good to see Neville looking proud of himself too. Even Luna got excited about everything and joined in many of the games, and even won the cake eating contest.

As evening approached the party moved outside where a dance platform had been set up, along with Lee Jordan acting as magical DJ.

Some of the guests broke off at that point. Taking younger kids off to bed, or deciding that a swim sounded better than dancing. But as far as Harry could tell, everyone left smiling. 

The dancing was excellent, of course. Jordan managed a good mix of fast and slow, muggle and magical tunes. And even Snape was seen taking a turn on the floor with Synistra, before they were interrupted by Mcgonagall, who insisted on a dance with her former colleague. John, Jean, Molly, and Arthur traded back and forth several times. And Harry managed to dance with Luna, Hermione, Susan, Hannah, and for a couple of bars, Neville, which earned a lot of laughs.

At the end of the evening there was much tired laughter as the small group of friends with rooms on the top floor rode the elevator.

“This was a great day. Thanks guys, for helping set this up.” Harry said to them all.

“You’re welcome Harry. I think we all needed it.” Hermione answered.

“I know I did.” Neville commented. “Though I wish Susan could have stayed longer.”

“Did you guys see Snape and Synistra sneaking out halfway through the dancing?” Fred asked.

“They were very pretty together.” Luna half whispered in her dreamy voice. “I think they were going to clear the wrackspurts from his office, so he could think better.”

“My thoughts exactly Luna.” George said pompously.

“Be nice, he’s gotten a lot better since he came to the island.” Hermione scolded. “Speaking of though, have you made any progress on getting rid of the mark?” She turned to Harry.

“A little, I think I’ve isolated how it was made, I just need to run a few tests to be sure I’m right, before I start working out the removal process. I’m fairly sure it was done with parseltongue though, which would make it impossible for anyone else.”

The doors opened on the top floor at that moment, cutting off any replies. The group moved out and said their goodbyes before heading to their respective beds. Harry and Luna waited until everyone else had left before saying their own goodnights, which consisted of kisses, rather than words.

The morning after the party, Harry was having trouble getting up and moving. He had stuffed himself with cake, ice cream, and other good food. Then wore himself out playing games. He was paying for it now.

He felt heavy, and his joints were creaking. He needed a hot shower, and maybe a jog around the beach. This was a bad day to be dealing with this kind of problem, especially with it being the first time he had to do so. He had a meeting with Gringotts today, and he needed to be on the ball. The meeting had been requested by King Ragnok, which meant it would be important, and most likely concern his request that Gringotts shut down, now that Voldemort was back.

The shower helped a little. He passed on breakfast, going instead for a run. Which cleared his head at least. But he didn’t start to feel like himself properly until after lunch, just in time to head to Gringotts.

The bank was just as imposing as ever, with a pair of guards out front. The guards bowed as they approached, which Harry returned as he strode by.

Carnok greeted him just inside the doors. “Good afternoon young Potter. Are you ready for the challenge that awaits?”

“I hope so Carnok.” Harry replied. “I’ve already had a fight this morning. I overindulged at my birthday party last night.”

Carnok threw his head back and laughed. “Now that is a fight which can bring down even the mightiest of warriors. Hopefully you were not injured too badly. Else this challenge may go poorly.”

“I am feeling well enough now, and I am hopeful for the outcome of this meeting.”

“Well said. Now who have you brought with you today?” Carnok stated and turned to the two people flanking Harry.

Harry turned to each and introduced them. “This is John Granger, my sort of adopted father.” John bowed as Xeno had taught him. Carnok smiled and returned the bow. “And this is my mentor, Nicholas Flamel.” Nicholas offered a bow of his own.

At the name Flamel Carnok gave a little start and his eyes widened. He bowed deeply to the elderly man. “Well met Master Flamel. It is an honor to have you visit Gringotts. And you are young Potter's mentor? A finer arrangement I could not have made myself. You have chosen well young Potter.”

Flamel smiled as Harry spoke. “Thank you Carnok. I’ve enjoyed his tutelage immensely.”

“Well, shall we proceed.” Carnok motioned to the large doors leading to the meeting rooms.

The meeting room Carnok led them to was new to Harry. In the center of the room was a hexagonal table, around which several chairs were positioned. A long low room, lined with guards. At the far end from the door sat what could only be described as a throne, upon which sat Ragnok, King of the Goblins.

Nicholas caught Harry’s arm and looked over to John. “This is the grand meeting hall of the King. I did not expect it to be used, else I would have mentioned it. The protocol is a little different here. We should approach to just beyond the table and wait to be addressed. When the first word is spoken, bow. There will be some formalities, let me handle them. Then the King will join us at the table, then we’ll get to the real meeting.”

Harry whispered back. “So, just stay silent and bow until we sit down?”

Catching Johns eye and nodding, Nicholas answered. “Yes.”

As instructed, they made their way forward, and bowed as a guard introduced King Ragnok. Nicholas and the guard exchanged a few words, Ragnok said something that sounded officious, and then he stood and walked towards them.

When Ragnok stood before the three he looked each over carefully and nodded to one of the guards. He then bowed and motioned to the table. Returning his bow, the three moved to take seats at the table. A moment later a goblin dressed in fine robes appeared and set out drinks in front of everyone.

After a long sip of the red liquid set before him, Ragnok smiled and spoke. “Welcome young Potter, to the King’s meeting hall. It has been a long time since any wizard was allowed to see this room. And I do not believe that any non-magical has ever been near it.” He nodded to John, who gave a seated bow in return. “Some time ago, you asked us to consider closing the bank when your dark lord returned. A short time ago, you claimed that he had. What proof can you offer of your claim?”

“I have a memory of the event here if you would like to witness it. The pensieve we have is of our design.” He motioned to Nicholas and himself. “It will project the memory onto the wall so we may view it in comfort. And thus be undistracted.”

Ragnok seemed to ponder for a moment, then nodded and motioned for Harry to go ahead. Returning the nod, Harry brought the projector pensieve out of his bag and quickly set it up. A few taps from his wand set the memory in place and got it playing.

The graveyard scene leapt onto the wall and guards moved about so as to have a good view of both the room and the memory playing on the wall. Snickers wafted around the room at various points, mostly as Harry taunted Voldemort and the death eaters.

When the memory finished, Harry shut down the projector and turned to Ragnok. “There is little else I can offer, though I am willing to swear to the veracity of my memory under veritaserum if you wish.”

Ragnok held up one hand. “What you have shown is proof enough for me. There has been much debate among the clans these last few months. We are a bit torn on whether to side with you or not. We Goblins have been repaid poorly in the past. Indeed, many of the revolts taught of in your history class were caused by wizards failing to uphold their bargains. Still, we are willing to consider your offer. We must however be certain of what that offer is. That is the true purpose of our meeting today.” He waved to a goblin standing nearby. The goblin came forward and laid a heavy cask on the table. From the cask he drew a long scroll.

Holding up the scroll, Ragnok continued. “This is the original agreement which led to the formation of Gringotts. It grants us many rights, but it also prevents us from growing in many ways. It limits the lands we can access, denies us the right to own or carry a wand, even limits the number of children we may have each year. When it was first signed none of these were a problem for us. We needed only a small bit of land for our work, our numbers were low to begin with so the restriction on children was not a burden, and wands were not in common use at the time anyway. But in recent years we have begun to see the restrictions for what they are.”

He stopped and looked up at Harry. After a second to consider his response, Harry spoke. “I see no need to deny you the use of wands, nor to deny you children. I assume that was included in order to prevent you from outnumbering the wizards of that time. However if we can forge a solid community between us then there is no reason to fear such an outcome. As for land, I expect that the new government we will build will maintain the same rules for everyone. Something along the lines of “if you can afford it, it’s yours” I expect. Would you be willing to accept that?”

Looking around for any disagreement from the other goblins, and seeing none, Ragnok nodded. “That would be acceptable yes.”

Nicholas leaned forward. “I would expect that if your people are allowed wands, they will be held to the same responsibilities, and laws as anyone else. Though the exact wording of those laws may change between now and then. Though for example, use of a wand outside of school prior to reaching the age of majority is likely to remain the same.”

“Being treated exactly the same as anyone else in matters of law is to be celebrated. We would be pleased with such an arrangement.” Ragnok grinned. “And what new requirements would you have of us?”

John leant forward and looked a question. When Ragnok nodded for him to proceed, he spoke. “I wonder if you would be willing to have your bank follow the same guidelines as non-magical banks. It would make it much easier for those coming into the magical world to adapt. Plus it would give you some powerful tools for earning more profit for the bank, and by extension, your people.”

“Profit you say?” Ragnok blinked at the suggestion, then grinned. “We have long ignored the non-magical world. As we cannot be a part of it, we have never bothered to look into it. If there is a way for us to establish connections, and allow us to earn a profit thereby, we are willing to look into it. As for following their guidelines, we would have to know what those guidelines are.”

“I expect a few muggleborn would be willing to act as your representatives in the muggle world, and ferry information back and forth.” Nicholas smirked. “For that matter you might be able to arrange for one of them to take over an existing bank, or start a new one. Which would then give you a direct link. Though that would likely be a long term plan.”

From there, the meeting dipped into more and more esoterica and clauses, and sub-clauses, as they hashed out a new treaty which would be enacted after the war was over. Though in the end it was agreed that the Alliance would send it’s diplomatic team to go over everything and finalize the wording. It seemed though that both sides would get what they wanted, which in the end was for everyone to be welcomed in the magical world, and for the prejudice of former generations to become a thing of the past.

Boy Who Lived A Criminal. That was the headline that greeted the Alliance the morning after Harry’s meeting with the Goblins. Settling into his seat at the breakfast table, Harry picked up the daily prophet to read the article.

A few days ago there was an uproar at the Ministry of Magic. Evidence was received that Harry Potter, the boy who lived, had performed magic in front of a number of muggles. A hearing was scheduled and he was ordered to appear on the tenth of August.

Apparently, Our young hero was in hurry however. As he was seen entering the Ministry offices on July 30th at 8 am. What he did, and who he may have spoken to is unknown at this time. However it is known that when he left several hours later, the hearing was removed from the schedule.

What happened? I asked myself, dear readers. How did Harry Potter manage this? Did money change hands perhaps? Or was something more nefarious going on? I sought to discover the facts dear readers, and I was lucky enough to secure a meeting with our dear Minister Cornelius Fudge, who had this to say.

“All the evidence we had has vanished. I don’t know how this happened, we are currently investigating who was involved. This was a serious breach of our laws, and as soon as it can be proven something will be done. In the meantime I would advise everyone to avoid Harry Potter, there is no telling what he might do next.”

Troubling news my dear readers. Harry slammed the paper down on the table. “You have got to be kidding me!” He cried, startling the rest of the people in the dining area, some of whom he noticed had not yet seen the paper.

“What are we going to do about this?” Harry heard Jean asking Arthur. And turned his attention to the man to hear his reply.

“I’m not sure.” Arthur said. “We’ll need to find out what exactly their planning. We won’t be able to make a proper response plan until then. I’ll get on it as soon as I get to work.”

“Be careful Arthur dear.” Molly laid a hand on her husband's arm. “They know you’re friendly with Harry. They may not share their plans with you. And you don’t want to make them angry.”

“Agreed, Molly, I’ll be careful.”

John looked up from where he had continued reading the article. “It says here that he’s placed one of his lackeys at Hogwarts. So that’s at least part of their plan.”

The adults shared pointed looks and turned to the teens. Molly spoke. “Why don’t you all go on and get started on your chores. We can’t just sit around all day.”

“We want to help!” Ron cried at his mother.

Fred managed to cut off his mother's response by grabbing Ron's arm and holding up a hand. “Come on Ron, this is something we should leave to the adults.”

George added to the thought. “We’ve still got a play area for the kids to finish. Let’s go.”

The two oldest of the group herded the rest out of the hotel and down the beach before they responded to the many complaints, and requests for explanation.

“We know, we know.” They said together. “But we wouldn’t get anywhere by staying in there.”

Harry smiled at his older friends. “Good call you two. They probably would have been suspicious if I had dragged everyone out.”

“They will be anyway.” Hermione said meaningfully. “But it got us out here anyway.”

“But what are we gonna do now?” Ron asked. “We can’t just build a play area. We should be doing something.”

“We are.” Everyone turned to look at Neville, who pinked under the attention, but continued on gamely. “But Mrs. Weasley was right. That stuff is for the adults to handle, we have to focus on the stuff we can do. Like dealing with whoever is being sent to Hogwarts.”

“Neville’s right.” Luna’s voice wafted over everyone. “We should focus on the problems that we will be next to.”

“That said.” Harry smiled, and it had a grim look to it. “I’m headed over to the training area. I’ve been meaning to spend some time on that anyway. I can’t think of a better reason than this.”

In a few moments they were all headed towards the section of the island that had been designated as boot camp.


	67. Chapter 67

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's finished!!!! 74 chapters in total, including the epilogue!  
In celebration, I'm posting a second chapter today.
> 
> The votes are now counted for my next work, and with a margin of one whole vote the winner is....*drum roll*
> 
> A Sirius Summer Outing
> 
> Yes that is my working title. In which Harry runs away the summer before third year, a little early, meets a big black dog, and the two run off to begin their lives as outlaws on the run. It will mostly focus on the relationship between Harry and Sirius, and the ways in which they hep each other to grow.
> 
> I'm anticipating around two weeks before I have enough written to begin posting, though depending on other peoples claims on me, and writers block attacks, that could change.
> 
> Wish me luck, and let em know how you feel about the rest of this story. :-)

They made it four steps before they were called up by a voice from the hotel. They were being called back due to the arrival of reinforcements.

When they entered the lobby, they were greeted by a pair of snakes. Tracey Davis, and Daphne Greengrass to be precise.

Daphne opened her mouth to greet them. “It happened.” She said. “My father has announced that I will have a contract by the time we return to Hogwarts. I’m to marry Theo Nott. I was at least able to arrange to spend the remainder of the summer with Tracey.”

Tracey took over, as Daphne seemed to have run out of words. “My parents are leaving the country, quietly. But they agreed that we could come here. We have to go back to Hogwarts anyway, so they agreed it would be best for us to stay with you.”

It was then that Harry noticed the packed trunks behind the girls. Nodding, he motioned to where John and Jean were standing to one side. “Jean is in charge of housing, she’ll find you a room. Once you’re settled in, you’re welcome to join us.” He motioned to the rest of the teens. “We’ve got a few plans for the day.”

The girls looked at each other and after a moment nodded. “We’ll do that.” Daphne said, and offered a thin smile.

It took only a few minutes to get them situated with a room and explain the plan for the day. They heartily agreed and then asked if anyone else from Hogwarts would be joining them.

“We should have thought of that.” Hermione said. “We can write everyone and invite them to come. The more of us that are prepared the better, if we need to do something at Hogwarts.”

“Good call Hermione.” Fred whistled. “Why don’t you write the Gryffindor girls, and we’ll get the boys. Harry and Luna can split Ravenclaw. Neville can get Susan and Hannah over and cover Hufflepuff.” He turned to the newcomers. “Would you two mind writing the other Slytherins? You’ll probably know how to phrase it so it won’t be clear to their parents, better than us.”

“Sure.” Tracey offered.

It took an hour to get all the letters off, and then find those students who were already on the island. After which, they finally headed down to the boot camp to discuss with the trainers a schedule for the Hogwarts students.

It took a week for all the students to show, and by then the schedule was in place, and had been approved by the adults. For six hours each day, they trudged through mud and muck, shot paintballs at targets, and cast offensive and defensive spells until they couldn’t lift their arms. Opinions varied from Ron Weasley’s “this is the worst thing ever” to Susan Bones “this is the most fun I’ve ever had” but everyone endured it nonetheless.

The best thing about the training, Harry decided halfway through the week. Was that at the end of each day, his head was clear. The physical activity actually managed to keep him focused enough to clear all the extraneous thoughts away. Which allowed him to concentrate more easily on the other things he needed to work on. And he was even beginning to understand what he wanted for his life. He might actually have a plan for after Hogwarts.

“Professor Snape?” Harry called as he entered the backroom of the shop the former teacher occupied on the main floor of the hotel. There was no answer and Harry took the opportunity to look around at the changes Snape had made. What was originally just a small stock room had been magically expanded and now held four long tables each set with multiple brewing stations. Three walls had been fitted with shelves, which were bulging with ingredients. The last wall held a small door, which presumably led to Snape’s living quarters, and was otherwise taken up by shelves which held vials. Hundreds of vials, most of them filled with various colourful substances. There was a small label in front of each, listing what the potion was. Each vial had its own label which also listed when it was made.

“Mister Potter.” Snape said harshly as he exited the door which Harry assumed led to the mans living quarters. Snape looked down at the teen with a glare for a moment, then closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened his eyes again he looked calmer and spoke more politely. “Apologies, I fell into old habits for a moment. You may call me Severus if you wish Harry, I am no longer your Professor, and it is no longer necessary to maintain hostility between us. To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?” He didn’t quite get the mocking tone out of his voice on the word pleasure, but it was certainly an improvement that he didn’t actually seem angry.

“Umm, Severus, wow, that’s gonna take some getting used to.” Harry started and blanched a little. “I may need to brush up on manners. I mostly spend time with other people my own age, and Sirius. None of whom are overly concerned with impressions.”

“It may do you some good Po,” Snape paused and continued, “Harry. I would be pleased to assist if you like. It would amuse me to teach manners to James Potter's son.”

Harry smiled up at the older man. “Based on the stories Sirius and Remus tell, I’d bet my father didn’t even know what manners are.”

“Just so.” Snape agreed, then motioned to a pair of seats Harry had missed when he was looking around. “I doubt that you came here to discuss your father’s failings though.”

“No, although it might be fun later.” Harry replied with a chuckle. “No, I wanted to talk about the mark.” He pointed to Snapes left arm. “Sorry it’s taken a while, I’ve been pretty busy this summer. But I got brainwave this morning and wondered if you’d be willing to let me cast a diagnostic spell?”

Cocking his head to one side, Snape smirked and raised his sleeve. “I did wonder when you would get around to it. However as no one has yet succeeded in having any effect, I assumed you were researching and simply hadn’t found anything helpful yet.” He laid his arm on the table between them, dark mark facing upwards. “You may cast as many diagnostics as you like. I will ask though, that you warn me before attempting to actually remove it. It may be painful, and I wish to be prepared.”

Drawing his wand, Harry offered a thin smile. “Of course, I’d feel the same way.” He then raised his wand and began a slow chant in parseltongue. Snape’s eyes widened at the sound of the snake language, but he remained perfectly still.

Long minutes passed in relative quiet as Harry wove diagnostics over Snape’s arm. When at last he sat back and tucked his wand away, Snape leaned forward. “Have you learned anything of value?”

“Yes, and I think so.” Harry replied. “It was definitely made with parseltongue, which is most likely why no one has been able to remove it yet. It will have be done in parseltongue. Unfortunately, I don’t recognize most of the spellwork on it, which means research. The hard kind, because I’m unsure of what I’m looking for. I’ll talk with Bill though, he may know some of it, and it would be nice if you would join. You may know something that would help, I hear you have a mastery in defence as well as potions.” He smiled at the older man.

“Not a mastery, yet.” Snape smirked. “But I am quite skilled. I will join this discussion, when will it take place?”

“How’s tomorrow evening for you? I’ll invite the both of you up for dinner, and we can discuss it over a meal.”

“I accept.”

“Excellent, I’ll see you then. I’ve a few other things to do today, so I’ll let you get back to what you were doing.”

“Very well, until tomorrow then.” Snape swallowed and seemed to gather himself for a great effort. “Have a good day Harry.”

“Have a good day Severus.” Harry replied easily and rose to leave.

Dinner the next evening went well. Harry had requested Dobby to make something they would all enjoy. Oddly this had resulted in fettucini alfredo with chicken and broccoli, one of Harry’s favorites. He was a little worried that Dobby hadn’t understood, until Bill commented that he had been craving just such a meal, and Snape expressed pleasure over the change from the usual British fare.

As they were finishing up the last few bites, Bill brought the conversation around to what they were really there for. “So, Harry, you wanted some advice on getting rid of an embedded spell? Given Severus presence, I’m guessing it’s the dark mark you’re dealing with?”

“Yeah, I ran all the diagnostics yesterday. Unfortunately, I don’t recognize all the spellwork.”

“Hmm, that could be a problem. Without knowing what spells are involved, taking them apart, without hurting the bearer, is difficult. Tearing them out shouldn’t be too hard, but that would most likely result in removing the arm. Which I expect we want to avoid.”

“Exceedingly.” Came Severus dry reply. “It sounds rather like we should attempt to capture another with the mark. So that we are not risking a first attempt on myself.”

“That would be best. Assuming we can find a marked death eater to capture.” Bill said blandly.

“I think you two are getting ahead of me here.” Harry smiled as Dobby appeared and whisked away the empty dishes, and replaced them with full beverages. Coffee for Bill and Severus, juice for Harry. “I still need to work out a means of removing the mark, before any testing can be done. And it would be best, I think, to have an idea of what I’m doing before we start getting people to test it on. We don’t exactly have prison cells to keep captured death eaters in you know.”

“True.” Bill said, pointing at Harry. “Hmm, well, the easiest thing I can think of is to create counters. It’s easy enough once you’ve identified the spellwork. Even if you don’t know what to call it, with the diagnostics I taught you, you still know what the spells are meant to do. From there you just have to work out the counter, which is a lot of arithmancy, mostly.”

“Ah, the Blarney method.” Severus commented. “Effective, if a bit slow. Though I suppose if it's what you have available.” He trailed off.

“It’s faster than trying to track down unknown spells and their counters.” Bill responded with a half glare. “Especially if you’re dealing with unfamiliar spellwork, or lack access to the libraries used to create the effect you’re trying to dispel.”

“True.” Snape smiled at the effect of his barb. “I am familiar with the process, with your permission, I will aid in training. It may make the process go faster, and I would like to have this thing off my arm before the war begins to heat up.”

“Cool, so how long will it take to teach me how to do that?” Harry asked.

The two older men turned to look at him, and Harry paled slightly under their gaze.

“I should think not long, assuming you are as intelligent as I have been led to believe.” Snape stated.

“Probably a week or so. To learn how to do it. It will take some practice to be able to do it consistently.” Bill said. Tilting his head in thought he continued. “I’ll give you a few cursed objects to practice with. We’ve got some trinkets lying around from Fred and George’s experiments that they won’t miss. I’ll throw some curses on them, which will give you something to work on.”

“A week, that’s good. We only have two left before us teens go back to Hogwarts.” Harry smiled at the stunned expressions of the older men. Apparently they had forgotten about that. Bill wasn’t surprising, he’d been out of school for ages. But Snape’s reaction was priceless, it didn’t take long to switch one’s expected schedule it seemed.

Severus recovered first. “It seems that I have become accustomed to not having to worry about the schools schedule. Thank you for that Harry, it was always a drain on my time. I am glad to be free of it. On to a different topic then. I have something you may find interesting.” He held up a tiny sphere.

It was white, and seemed to be glowing softly, though it was difficult to be sure in the bright light of the dining room. Snape opened his hand, allowing the tiny ball to roll about on his palm, and offered it to Harry.

Reaching out to take the sphere, Harry looked it over. It was a paintball, and now he was holding it he could tell that it was glowing softly, and it was warm. Looking up to Snape he asked. “What is it?”

“If my calculations are correct.” Severus started with a wry smile. “It is a patronus. Though we are lacking in dementors to test it on. The initial batch produced a hundred of these. It should be easy enough to up that by a factor of ten, however, I wish to be sure they are working before I expend the ingredients for such a batch.”

Harry answered Snapes smile with one of his own. “Harden Hardy, he’s in charge of the training for our fighters. He’ll be the one to test these. He might even have a way to get a dementor or two to test on. I’m not sure. I can take these out to him though if you want.” He offered.

“That is appreciated.” Snape replied. “Now I believe we should begin teaching you about inventing counters to identified spellwork. We are as you so aptly pointed out. Short on time.”

Knock, knock. Lessons were going well. Harry now understood the fairly simple process of breaking down a curse and working out what it is meant to do. Now with just under a week to go before returning to Hogwarts, he needed to learn the more complex process of working out how to counter the intentions of a curse and carefully removing it. He had a collection of cursed objects to practice with, given to him by both Bill and Severus. The plan was that he would work on each in turn, keeping notes on what he learned and the method he worked out for countering the curse or curses placed upon them. Then he would share his notes with the men so they could see his progress, and let him know if he missed anything. But right now, someone was at his door.

“Severus.” He smiled when he opened the door. It was odd to see the man this late, it was nearly bedtime.

“Good evening Harry. May I come in?” Severus asked, looking down at the small box he was carrying.

“Of course.” Harry opened the door wider and motioned to the table.

Placing the box upon the table, Severus turned to his host. “I apologize for the lateness. Both the time, and the gift.” He laid a hand on the box.

“Gift?” Harry allowed his head to fall to one side looking puzzled.

Severus smirked. “For your birthday Harry. I was at a loss as to what to get you, then I remembered something.” He seemed to caress the box for a moment before continuing. “I have collected memories. Your mother at school. I thought you might appreciate seeing her as she was.” There was a hitch in the man's voice, which Harry politely ignored.

“I, yes, thank you Severus.” There was a hitch in Harry’s voice too. And a lump in his throat as well. He swallowed hard. “Would you like to view them with me? Maybe you can tell me a little about her?”

Looking as though he had just swallowed something sharp, Severus nodded.

“Would you prefer a traditional pensieve, or the projector?” Harry asked, motioning to the projector seated on a side table.

Cocking an eyebrow, Severus managed to resume his usual manner. “Do you even have a traditional pensieve?”

“Yeah, four actually.” Harry replied, keeping as much of the smugness he felt out of his voice as he could. “One of my ancestors invented the pensieve, I have his original. The spellwork is breaking down though, so I wouldn’t recommend using it. When Nicholas and I were designing the projector though, we built three traditional ones so as to better understand how they work. I still have those, their in the library. Which one day I will set up properly. It’s just easier to carry my books with me in the trunk for now.”

Severus was now holding in a chuckle. “Traditional I think, if you don’t mind.”

“Okay, let me grab one.”

It took less than a minute to get the pensieve set up. Then Severus was pouring memories into it and they both dove in.

The first memory was a park. Two girls were playing on a swing set. One tall and blonde was swinging sedately. While the other a little shorter and with bright flame red hair was pushing the swing as high as it could go, laughing.

Looking around, Harry saw a young boy in oversized clothes hiding in the bushes, watching the two girls. Turning to Severus he motioned to the boy. “Is that you?” He asked.

Looking to where Harry pointed Severus nodded. “Yes, I was rather frightened back then. I had no friends. A week before this, I noticed Lilly,” he pointed to the redhead, who was now leaping off the swing and floating to the ground, “doing some small magic. I followed her, waiting for a chance to approach. This is the day I finally managed to do so.” He turned back to the girls.

Lilly had picked a flower off the ground and was making its petals open and close. The blonde, who Harry now recognised as his aunt Petunia was throwing a fit about it. Then young Snape stumbled out of the bushes and blurted out that Lilly was a witch. If he had hoped that would go over well, he was much mistaken.

“That doesn’t seem to have gone as well as you had hoped.” Harry commented.

“Indeed not. This is one of the events in my life that taught me to be judicious about my choice of phrasing. We did eventually smooth things out, as you will see in a moment.”

And indeed, a moment later the memory ended, and was replaced with another. Lilly and Snape sat together under a tree discussing magic.

“I told her everything I knew about the magical world. Which admittedly was rather limited at that time.” Severus said, watching the two children almost hungrily.

Harry smiled warmly. “Still, that’s more than most muggle-born get. And it looks like the two of you were close.”

“We were, until the end of our fifth year. I did something she was unable to forgive.”

Harry noted the tear that had leaked out of the older man’s eye and decided not to press the issue. Hoping that perhaps that memory had been included as well.

When he turned back to the memory, Petunia had appeared and was arguing with Snape and Lilly. As he focused on them a branch of the tree broke and hit Petunia on the head. She ran away crying, and a fight broke out between Lilly and Snape. After a moment Lilly chased after her sister, and Snape looked forlorn.

“Accidental magic?” Harry asked, and at Severus’ nod continued. “Your’s or hers, do you know?”

Drawing in a breath Severus turned to face him. “Mine I think, though it’s difficult to be sure. Certainly though I had more reason to lash out then Lilly did.”

Harry nodded in understanding. “Wish I’d done something like that to my cousin. My accidental magic tended more towards pranks and escape. Maybe if I’d dropped a tree limb on Dudley, he might have backed off a bit.”

“You did not get on with your cousin?” Severus asked as the memory changed.

“He treated me about how my dad treated you.” Harry answered.

Severus blinked. “I would not have guessed that.”

“Most people don’t know, and I like it that way. I don’t want special treatment for things other people did. Only recognition for what I do.”

“That is, commendable.” Severus said after a pause. “Shall we continue?” He asked, motioning to where Snape and Lilly were playing on the swing set.

“Let’s.” Harry answered.

In the end they spent two hours watching memories, Severus answering the occasional question. And they only got sidetracked a couple of times. When they came out of the pensieve Harry still didn’t know what had broken their friendship, but was determined to leave the question alone for now.

“Thank you for sharing that with me Severus.” Harry said when they were back in his sitting room.

“You are welcome Harry. There are a few more memories in the box. I did not include them as they are rather painful for me, but you deserve to see them. I will ask that you not share them with anyone else though, as they are rather personal.”

Harry nodded and looked thoughtful for a moment. “Sir, do you know anything about cryonics?” He asked.

Severus looked confused for a moment before returning to his usual blank expression. “I do not.”

Nodding, Harry motioned for the older man to follow and headed towards his room. Inside he opened his trunk to the portable library and entered. Pulling a book from one of the shelves he offered it to Severus.

“It’s a process where the body is frozen. I don’t really understand all the specifics, but the idea is to preserve someone at the moment of death. Then later, when a cure is found, they can be thawed out and revived.”

Severus blinked, looking from the book in his hand, to Harry. “Are you saying that Lilly underwent this process?”

Harry nodded. “Her and dad both, my grandparents too. It will be years yet, decades probably. But one day, we might be able to revive them. Once we find a way to reverse the killing curse, and a way to safely thaw them. There could be some difficulties due to having been frozen to deal with as well. Yeah, you get the point. It’s a hope not a certainty.”

“But it is more than I had a minute ago.” Severus was tearing up. “Why tell me?”

Harry smiled thinly. “Because you deserve to know. And as much fun as it will be to surprise people if they can ever be revived. I don’t think it would be fair to their closest friends.”

Severus seemed to have lost his voice after that and merely nodded before turning to leave.

On the last night before the return to Hogwarts, the Alliance threw a party. Once again there were games and swimming. Everyone enjoyed themselves thoroughly.


	68. Chapter 68

The trip to Hogwarts was as eventful as always. Namely, Harry and friends grabbed one of the larger compartments and invited a rotating group of Alliance kids to join them for roundtable discussions, mostly about classes, games of exploding snap, and the occasional discussion of after Hogwarts plans. As Harry and Hermione were starting their fifth year, this was expected. As fifth year was when most students sat their O.W.L.s.

Harry of course had already sat some of his O.W.L.s and would have finished a couple more of them last year, had the tournament not interrupted his studies. He was looking forward to completing the rest of them this year, along with at least one N.E.W.T.

Nothing exciting happened until the end of the welcoming feast, when Headmaster Dumbledore rose to give his start of term speech.

It began as always, with a welcome to the new students, and welcome back to those returning. But was interrupted during the introduction of new teachers, by one of said new teachers.

There were two new teachers this year, Professor Grubblyplank would be replacing Hagrid for a time, as the half-giant was away on business. And of course, there was a new defence against the dark arts teacher, Dolores Umbridge, who had been the one to interrupt the Headmaster.

“Hem, hem.” She gave a little not cough to get his attention, then stood at her seat. This was not immediately apparent, as she was barely any taller standing than she had been seated. However the Headmaster took note and promptly seated himself, granting her the floor.

“Hem, hem.” She gave that little not cough again, and launched into a clearly prepared speech. Her voice was grating to Harry, and as he looked around, to many others as well. It was high pitched, squeaky, and little-girlish. “Well, it is lovely to be back at Hogwarts. And to see such happy little faces looking up at me. I’m sure we’ll be very good friends, and I am looking forward to getting to know you all.”

Those students near to Harry were making remarks about her hideous pink cardigan, and stating that they would never be friends with someone who talked down to them in such a manner as she was doing.

“Hem, hem.” She tried to get their attention once more. “The Ministry of Magic has always considered the education of young witches and wizards to be of vital importance. The rare gifts with which you were born, will come to nothing, if not nurtured and honed by careful instruction. The ancient skills unique to the wizarding world, must be passed down the generations. Lest we lose them forever. The treasure trove of magical knowledge, gathered by our ancestors, must be guarded, replenished, and polished by those who have been called to the noble profession of teaching.” Here she paused and gave a sort of half bow to the rest of the head table. None of the teachers returned the gesture.

“Hem, hem.” Voices had begun to rise in the Hall and Umbridge brought the attention back to herself before continuing again. “Every Headmaster and Headmistress of Hogwarts has brought something new to the weighty task of governing this historic school. And that is how it should be, for without progress there will be stagnation and decay. There again, progress for progress's sake, must be discouraged. For our tried and tested traditions often require no tinkering. A balance then between old and new, between tradition and innovation.” There was renewed muttering around the Hall.

Luna leaned over to Harry and commented. “She sounds rather like the blood bigots doesn’t she?”

After a moment of thought Harry replied. “Yeah, sounds like some of the speeches given by former death eaters to push their agendas. Guess we know now what’s going on at the Ministry.”

Sarah Davies, Rogers younger sister leaned over. “She’s one of Fudge’s assistants in the Ministry. She writes a lot of the anti-creature laws, and has been pushing for anti-muggleborn laws in the last few years. My dad complains about her a lot.”

Nodding his thanks for the information, Harry returned his attention to the front, where Umbridge was coughing for attention again.

“Because some changes will be needed, while others will come to be recognised, in the fullness of time, to be errors of judgement. Meanwhile, some old habits will be retained, and rightly so, whereas others, outmoded and outworn, must be abandoned. Let us move forward then into a new era of openness, effectiveness, and accountability. Intent on preserving what ought to be preserved, perfecting what needs to be perfected, and pruning wherever we find practices that ought to be prohibited.” She at last sat down.

Dumbledore clapped, though he was one of only a few who did so. Most of the Hall were exchanging opinions on the woman’s speech. Harry and Luna among them, discussing the meanings with their housemates.

Dumbledore stood again to continue his speech, but was largely forgotten in the buzz of curiosity about the new defence teacher.

The first day of classes went smoothly for Harry, as he had only Charms and Transfiguration to worry about. That evening held the first meeting of the Alliance though, and Harry was looking forward to it.

The meeting got started as usual, students filtering in slowly as evening approached. Only a few of the upper years had defence on their first day, and they were complaining loudly. Apparently Umbridge’s idea of teaching was to have the students read the book she had assigned, and that was all. Upon hearing that, Harry had led them over to the practice area and joined them in flinging spells till his arm was tired. It was a good release, and the others thanked him for the idea.

Harry had his first meeting with Professor Flitwick on the second day. “Good morning Harry.” Filius called when he knocked on the door. “Come in, tea?” He offered as Harry took a seat.

“Yes please.” Harry responded with a warm smile.

As the tea service flew out of its cupboard and danced around them, filling cups, Filius asked his favorite question. “So, which classes are you dropping this year?”

Smiling, Harry raised his cup in a toast. “You know me so well Professor.” At Flitwick’s chuckle he continued. “Defence definitely, and potions. I’ll take the newt for that at the end of the year, unless it can be arranged sooner?”

“Possible, I’ll have to check. It’s rather uncommon that we have a student wanting to take the owl’s or newt’s early, so there is no arranged means of doing so. Still, we might be able to make it happen. Any others?”

“Runes and Arithmancy, at the end of the year, along with the others. Which would be normal, it is my fifth year after all.”

Flitwick threw his head back in a roar of laughter. “It is at that. I almost forgot. You are such an unusual student Harry. Half the time I find myself thinking of you as an upper year. Though in some ways, you are. You have completed five of your O.W.L.s already after all. And one of those, you didn’t even take the class for. And after this year, you’ll have finished all of them.”

Chuckling, Harry smiled at his favorite teacher. “True. And I have you to thank for most of that. You gave me the chance to really focus on what’s important to me, and really push myself to advance. Thanks.” He was a little surprised to feel his cheeks grow warm as he spoke.

“You are most welcome Harry. It’s been an honor to watch you grow, and I am very proud of your progress.” The quarter goblin smiled broadly. “Well, let’s get those tests done shall we?”

“That worthless, mindless, toad!” Hermione screamed as she took a seat at the table Fred and George had arranged in the Chamber. It was the end of the first week of classes, and the first day that she had been in Umbridge’s class.

“Now Hermione.” Fred said in a quiet voice.

“You know that you can’t.” George continued the thought.

“Hold in your feelings like that.” Harry finished, winning a broad smile from the twins.

“You need to let them out.” Luna said in a dry tone, raising one pale eyebrow.

As one, the twins, Harry and Hermione turned gaping mouths on their blonde friend. This was the first time she had spoken in such a way, and even better, the first time she had completed a thought which they had started.

Fred and George bounced out of their seats to wrap Luna in a twin hug and gush over her addition. When they let her go, Harry took their place and added a kiss.

As everyone retook their seats, Hermione found her voice again. “She has us reading in class. And the book she set is absurd. It actually argues against defending yourself.”

“Hermione,” Fred started then paused when the girl turned a blazing glare on him. He held up his hands in placation. “We know about that. Harry,” he pointed to the boy in question, “is the only one of us, not in her class.”

“Yes, obviously.” Hermione continued waspishly. “But how are we supposed to learn anything, or pass our O.W.L.s with instruction like that?”

“We aren’t.” Luna said, once more speaking in her usual soft manner. “She doesn’t want us to be able to fight. I thought that was obvious, she’s clearly a death eater, or at least a supporter.”

Hermione looked stunned for a moment. “But, but I thought, I thought she was here in support of the Minister.”

“Well of course she is. But that doesn’t prevent her from supporting her lord and master while she’s at it.” Luna said, rather matter of factly.

“Wow Luna.” George spoke, soto voce. “That’s really insightful, as always.”

“And kind of scary.” Fred added.

“You don’t think she’s right, do you?” Hermione asked the twins.

“When was the last time she was wrong?” George asked, and Hermione went pale.

“Should we grab her and put her to the question do you think?” Fred asked, turning to Harry.

“Well,” Harry spoke slowly, getting his thoughts in order, “much as I would like to. I think for now, no. The only thing we really have against her is that she’s a bad teacher. And really, we already have a way around that.” He waved a hand around at the Chamber. “While I agree with Luna, unless we have at least some evidence to back it up, we’d take some flak from the rest of the Alliance if we just nab her. Not to mention what our parents would say.”

George went pale and mumbled something that sounded like “mum.”

Fred heard his brother and followed in the loss of colour. “George is right. And so are you Harry. We need more to go on before we can do anything. So keep an eye on her. For now.”

“Okay now that’s dealt with.” Luna said dreamily. “What are we working on tonight? I was hoping for some help with transfig.”

Hermione shook herself all over for a second, getting her anger under control before she answered. “Sure Luna, what are you having difficulty with?”

The next hour was spent with Hermione going over the principals of human transfiguration for Luna’s benefit. Though Harry found the review to be quite helpful as well. He had been so focused on more esoteric aspects of magic over the summer that a lot of the information he had crammed into his brain last year, seemed to have leaked out.

The last big event of the first week took place Saturday morning. The quidditch tryouts. Harry had originally intended to skip them, but was talked into attending at the last minute by the new Captain. While he explained that he did not intend to return to the team, he did agree to assist with the selection of the new seeker given his greater experience with the position.

As usual, most of Ravenclaw showed up for the trials holding brooms. When she saw him, Cho Chang came over to stand next to Harry. “I’m going to beat you this year, Potter.” She said, low enough that it wouldn’t carry far.

“Won’t be too hard Chang.” Harry replied. “I’m not actually trying to get on the team this year.” He explained to her dumbfounded expression. “I kind of got tired of the game, and I don’t have any interest in pursuing a career as a player. Better for me to step aside and let someone else have a chance to show off. I’m only here to help pick the seeker for this year. Don’t worry though, I won’t go easy on you.” He shot her a wide toothy smile and enjoyed the narrow eyed look she shot back.

Then he stepped back and raised one arm. “Seeker hopefuls, over here.” He called across the pitch, and was a little surprised at the number of people who made their way over. Terry Boot was once more in line, along with a little more than a half dozen others. All together he had nine hopefuls to challenge.

“Okay, some of you have been through this before, some of you haven’t.” Harry told the group of hopefuls. “For those of you who have done this before, please wait quietly while I explain to those who haven’t.” He waited a moment for the group to reorganize so that the youngest hopefuls were all together and could thus be more easily addressed. 

“Welcome to your first tryout.” Harry said to them with a smile. “This is fairly easy, first, I’m going to have all of you fly two loops around the field so I can get an idea of how well you handle normal flight, and air traffic. After that, we’ll have a short race, just down to the far goal and back.” He pointed down the pitch to the further goal post. “After that, comes the fun part.” He held up a golf ball. “We’re all going into the air, and you will each attempt to catch three of these. After all that, I should have enough to make a decision, though I’ll ask everyone to stick around for a bit, in case I need a tie breaker.”

With a wave he sent the entire group of hopefuls scurrying to mount their brooms and begin their trek around the pitch. Watching closely he could easily make out who the newest were, as they were not very comfortable on their brooms yet. While those like Terry Boot and Cho Chang had no difficulty in reaching their preferred height and racing around the pitch at top speed, dodging other flyers where necessary.

The actual race helped to really separate them out, with only Boot and Chang giving a really good showing. Not that the others did poorly, rather that those two stood out from the crowd with how well they handled the exercise.

At last it came down to the final challenge. The four youngest barely managed to catch even one golf ball apiece, while most of the upper years managed at least two. Chang, was the only one to catch all three though, handily winning herself the position.

Harry was pleased to report the outcome to the new Captain and hand Cho over for integration with the rest of the team. While Harry headed to the Chamber to get back to his homework.


	69. Chapter 69

In a meeting hall of the hotel, the leaders of the Alliance gathered to discuss plans for the coming months. John Granger, Sirius Black, Harden Hardy, and Xenophilius Lovegood stood in a little circle chatting about what the death eaters were likely to be doing, and how they could be countered. Which raised a thought in the mind of the eldest.

“Tonks, are you ready to report on the Azkaban test?” Harden yelled across the crowded room.

The pink haired Auror looked up from the conversation she had been engaged in with Molly Weasley, and Jean Granger. She looked a little pale, though that could have simply been an effect of the lighting. Swallowing heavily she addressed herself to the steely former special forces operative. “Yes sir, Captain Hardy sir.” She yelled cheekily back at the man.

Hardy’s eyes narrowed and he growled. He mumbled briefly. “Just for that.” Low enough that only those closest to him could hear. Then he pointed to the stage set against one wall and yelled back. “Let’s hear it then.” And once more mumbled to his companions. “See if she calls me Captain again, I’ll do worse than make her talk in front of a crowd.” Which got a chuckle from the other men.

Gulping audibly, Tonks made her way to the stage, drawing a memory from her head as she went, which she deposited in the projector pensieve as she mounted the stage. “Alright listen up. Since I have to be up here for this, you all can see what I saw.” She tapped the projector to show a rocky shoreline. “This is Azkaban island, far in the north sea, situated between Scotland and Iceland, a little closer to us than to them. It is the current home of the dementor population of the U.K. Also the location of our magical prison. It is a widely held belief that long term exposure to dementors saps a witch or wizard of their magic, this is inaccurate. What it does is leave the person so bereft with grief and guilt that they can barely think, which prevents them from achieving the focus necessary to performing magic.”

She paused here to look around, and to tap the projector once more, moving the scene forward until a dementor was clearly visible. “This is a dementor. They are fairly easy to recognise, between the ragged cloak, pale bony hands, the fact that they float anywhere from an inch to several feet from the ground, and the rattling of the air around them. Seriously, if you’ve never heard it, count yourself lucky. It’s creepy, and it’s just the sound of them breathing.” Tonks gave a full body shudder and a few people looked around to see other people reacting the same way.

“Moving on, for those who don’t already know. A couple of years ago, the Ministry had the bright idea of placing a large number of these abominations around Hogwarts. Which prompted the junior Alliance to learn the patronus charm, among other things. At the end of the school year when the students were returning to the express the dementors attacked the children. This was kept out of the papers of course, as it would have made the Ministry look bad, however the students were able to push them back. And as a result of the numerous patroni it was discovered that a patronus can kill a dementor.”

Again Tonks paused for reactions, as some of the people here had been told all their lives that nothing can kill a dementor, only drive it away. When the muttering died down she pointed to a large dark skinned man in the crowd. “Kingsley Shacklebolt, who many of you know came to us from Dumbledore’s Order of the Phoenix, thanks to the efforts of Sirius and Remus to subvert that group.” She paused again as the two mentioned men stood on chairs and waved to the crowd. “Anyway, Kingsley brought us a copy of an old report on dementors, which reveals that yes. A patronus can kill a dementor, however, it takes prolonged contact. Prolonged being several seconds to a minute, depending on the strength of the patronus. However, dementors tend to rush away from any contact with patroni, so it rarely happens unless the dementor is restrained in some way.”

Once more Tonks paused. This time she looked around raised her wand a summoned a cup from the refreshment table. Taking a long sip she smiled. “Ah, dry throat, most uncomfortable. So, what does this mean for us? Well, Harry Potter noted that it was possible to kill a dementor and asked a question that I doubt anyone else would have thought of. Can we use this to our advantage by putting a patronus in a potion? Then he asked the one person in the world who could answer it.” She pointed to a dour looking man with long black hair and a hooked nose, standing in a corner of the room. “Potions Master Severus Snape, who after several weeks of no doubt painful trial and error, came back with an answer of maybe. To be sure, he found a way to harness the energy of a patronus into a potion, and certainly he distilled that down into a pellet for our guns. But without a dementor to test it on, it was impossible to be sure it would work. So they,” she pointed to the group of men around Hardy, “sent little me,” she made herself look tiny, “out to Azkaban to find out.”

She tapped the projector again and moved the image forward to a view of herself holding up a slingshot loaded with a glowing paintball. Then she started the scene playing.

There was a creak from the sling as Tonks drew back. With a snap it released and the little ball flew forward. The dementor turned its head towards the sound just as the ball struck its robe. For a heartbeat it seemed that nothing would happen, then a bright flash spread from where the ball had struck. The creature tried to move away but the light seemed to consume it, as they watched bits of cloak burned away, revealing pale skeletal skin beneath, which was also being rapidly burned away. Three seconds, was all it took before almost nothing remained. A few scraps of tattered cloak wafted to the ground, along with a couple shards of bone.

As the image halted again Tonks returned to the front of the stage. “As you can see, it worked perfectly. Of course with only a slingshot, there was no way I could manage more than one at a time. But loading these into our guns, we can hit a bunch of them, really fast. Especially with a team of us working together. That said, I think Potions Master Snape deserves a round of applause for giving us a way to fight those things off.” And she turned to applaud the man who hadn’t left the corner. As she did so, she was joined by everyone else present and a crescendo of applause and cat calls cascaded around the room.

As the noise tapered off, Hardy came up onto the stage to thank Tonks quietly for her presentation and allow her to return to the floor. After which he turned to address the crowd.

“A quick round for Tonks, it was brave of her to test the patronus balls for us.” He said and clapped loudly, followed by the rest of the gathered Alliance. “So, we now have a way to handle the dementors easily. A method usable by everyone, or at least everyone armed with a gun. Instead of just those capable of casting a patronus. Which means we can start planning one of our most dangerous missions. Based on what we know of the death eaters, we expect that they will attempt, and probably succeed, to rescue their compatriots from Azkaban. It’s what I would do, get my supporters and allies out of prison so they can help with whatever else needs to be done. We need to prevent that from happening.”

He was cut off as someone from the crowd yelled. “But how do we do that? It’s not like anyone in the Ministry would listen to us.”

Hardy held up a hand. “Tonks just showed us. We raid Azkaban, take out the dementors, and move the prisoners to a more secure location. We know from the reports of the first war that the dementors had joined the death eaters at the end. They never assisted them directly, as I understand, because they joined too late. The first raid they were to assist with was scheduled for a week or so after Tom fell. It is reasonable therefore to assume that the moment he appears to them again, they will sign up immediately. So it would be advisable to get rid of them now, when we know where they are and can strike most of them at once.”

He was interrupted again, by another question shouted from the crowd. “But not all the prisoners are death eaters. What do we do with the ones who aren’t?”

“Yeah, or the guards?” Came another question.

Again Hardy held up a hand. “Guards are easy. We question them, same as we would anyone else. Those who are sympathetic to the death eaters, or worse actually are death eaters. Get to join them. Those who aren’t, we give them the choice to join us, if they refuse we send them home, preferably short a few memories. As for the other inmates, we question them too.” He pointed to Sirius. “We know of at least one person who was sent there without trial, who was in fact innocent of any crime. There may be others, so we find out. All questioning will be recorded of course.” He pointed to Emily Strodder. “When this is all over we can release the recordings to the public, and show that we have been fair and impartial throughout. Anyone found to be guilty of crimes we wish to punish, but who don’t belong in Sanctuary, we’ll have to figure out.”

“Kingsley held up a hand to be recognised and spoke when he received a nod from Hardy. “How do we get to and from the island? And how do we move that many prisoners without being noticed?”

“Ah good questions. And to answer them, Remus, Sirius.” He motioned for the two men to join him. I’ll let the two who figured that out tell you.” And he stepped aside to allow the Marauders the front of the stage.

“So there were two questions to be answered.” Sirius said as he stepped forward slightly. “The first, is how do we get the prisoners off the island. There are a lot of them, and they aren’t likely to help. So we use a two step process, which is how we got me out of the U.K. in the first place. Step one, sleeping draught, they can’t resist if they're unconscious. Step two, shrinking solution. He held up a case with a dozen small slots in it, which had lettering across it that read Hot Wheels. A little padding so they don’t get injured from being moved and we can carry them out easily.” He stepped back and motioned to Remus.

Remus stepped forward and smiled. “The second question is transport. I’ll say that it took a while to figure out. The wards on Azkaban island are among the best there are. While we can’t be sure, we believe they would notice if we set up a portal on or even near the island. So we won’t be using that method, which leaves physical travel, portkeys, and apparition. The Ministry closely monitors apparition around the island, so we won’t use that. And there are anti-portkey wards surrounding it so we can’t use them. Which leaves physical travel. After a lot of debate, we’ve found a means that will serve us well.” He withdrew a memory and placed it in the projector, giving it a tap. On the screen behind them appeared an image of a zeppelin. “Now, we won’t use a traditional zeppelin, that would be too difficult to hide. However a smaller version, meant for lower flying, we can disillusion, or cover with fog banks. Big enough to carry our forward team, plus gear. That will work perfectly, and can be used to insert the team anywhere around the country we need them. It’s response time in the event of an emergency won’t be quite as fast as we might like, but it shouldn’t take more than a couple of hours to reach anywhere in the U.K. And considerably less for most places.”

There was a great chattering among the crowd as conversation broke out, but a question was shouted above the voices, quieting the rest. “How long will it take? Or is it ready?”

Nodding Remus answered. “Work has begun on it already. It will take a couple of weeks to finish, and another for shake down, to insure that it is flight ready.”

At which Hardy returned to the front of the stage. “So it will be ready to go by October?”

“Middle of October, at the latest.” Remus replied.

“Good, because I want this done before Halloween. Intel on Tom indicates that he will move for something big to happen on that day. And the biggest thing he could pull at the moment is a raid on the prison. So I want us to hit it first. So, let’s get to planning.” He walked off the stage.

The rigging of the dirigible creaked loudly in the evening breeze. It had taken nearly three weeks for the craft to be readied for its maiden voyage, but now at last the forward team was on its way to the island prison which would mark their first step in securing a future for their children.

It was odd to think that almost everyone on this flying contraption was a parent, and even more that most of their children were students at Hogwarts. Stanley Shortstep was one of the few members of the forward team, who had no children. And he considered his fellows as they rode the air currents northward.

Stanley had attended Hogwarts himself of course. He had been a very different person then. Being muggleborn, he came into the magical world full of excitement and wonder at the many splendors magic offered. He had been eleven in 1982, and he had been informed by the kind woman who had brought his letter and explained things to his parents, that the magical world had recently been at war with itself over the “silly” subject of blood purity. A concept which at the time he had not understood. It took only three years at Hogwarts for him to learn that to some of his classmates, it was a very important concept. He had been sorted into Ravenclaw, his love of learning and discovery, the hat told him, would serve him well. By his seventh year, he wanted to set the thing on fire. His love of discovery had led him down one too many dark corridors in the castle, and in his sixth year, he had come across a group of the blood purists torturing one of his fellow muggleborn classmates.

He had tried to help, but it had been five on one, and soon he was lying on the floor next to his fellow, both of them screaming for help. Help didn’t come, and when they had gone to the teachers the attack had been swept under the rug. Even with the discovery that the damage done to them had been so severe that it rendered both boys incapable of ever fathering children had not brought any action from the staff of the school. It was then that Stanley knew he would not stay in magical society. Let them have their world if they want it so badly they won’t even raise a hand to protect those they welcomed in. He wondered for a long time if the woman had been honest with him when she claimed that the winners in the war had been those who wished to accept muggleborn. It seemed to him that the haters of muggleborn were in control, which meant they had won.

But now here he was, years later. He had been contacted by that same boy who had laid on the floor beside him, tortured by Thaddeus Knott and his friends. A new war was starting, and the muggleborn were going to get their revenge at last. And so he had agreed to put his training in the military to use. He had joined what they were calling the Alliance. And it was different than he remembered from his time at Hogwarts. The Alliance was mostly others like himself, who had been mistreated by the “purebloods” some who had left like he had, but even some who had stayed, but found they were kept out of the best jobs. There were even a few of the so called “purebloods” who were siding with them. And all of it had been started by a kid. Oh he knew the story that had been told, that it was the kids defacto parents, but he knew just like everyone else. That if it hadn’t been for Harry Potter, none of this would be happening.

And now, at last, they were on their way to do something real, something important. They were going to raid Azkaban. Take all the captured death eaters from the last war before their boss could get around to freeing them. The big wigs at the top of the Alliance said they had plans for them, but then, Stanley had plans of his own. He’d checked the records. Thaddeus Knott had been caught torturing muggles a few years out of Hogwarts and was now lounging in a cell. All Stanley needed was a few minutes alone.

“Spire sighted.” Came the call from the lookout. The island was in sight, they were almost there. Time to test out his new equipment for real.

Five minutes from the call, they were over the island and ready. The armor that had been made for the forward team had several helpful enchantments, one of which would be used here. Hardy was standing at the boardline, where the gangplank would rest on a normal ship. Tonight, it was where the team would jump from. He waved for the two lines of soldiers to move and they began filing off the ship.

When it came to Stanley’s turn he paused to look over the edge. Two hundred feet below was the sprawling edifice of Azkaban prison. Four high towers in which the prisoners were kept, surrounded by a wall, which he knew stood forty feet high, but from here looked like an ant mound. In the center of the space sat a squat little building, with warm lights shining through the windows. The guards quarters, where the six Aurors entrusted to keep watch over the prison stayed, when they weren’t on patrol.

Holding in his excitement, Stanley jumped. The wind slapped at his face as he fell, ahead of him he could see his fellows letting out the flaps of their suits, catching the wind to slow their descent in a controlled fashion. Almost like riding a broom, but without the actual broom, was how it had been described when they first tested this function of their armor. And Stanley had found that he enjoyed the experience immensely, a bit like riding a roller coaster, but more thrilling, as the only thing between him and a hard meeting with the ground was a bit of magic, and his own skill at handling the suit.

Angling for a landing on the north tower, Stanley chanced a look around at the rest of the team. They had broken into six units for this mission. One group would head for the guard house, while four others went for each tower. The last would check the perimeter to pick up any guards on patrol. It was efficient, and Stanley felt a jolt of pride at seeing his fellows in action. But only for a moment, the north tower was coming up quickly and he had his own job to do, two of them in fact.

Moments after landing, Stanley was forced to contemplate the old adage he had learned from his first Lieutenant in the army. “No plan survives first contact with the enemy.” That man had been fond of saying, and here was the proof. As they breached the first door, a crowd of three dementors had been waiting for them and flowed out of the hallway intent on drinking the team’s souls, he knew it.

One of the team screamed and clutched at his head, a second simply fell to his knees in the middle of the huddle, getting in everyone’s way. Two more simply started firing not checking the selector on their magazines and thus their front man suddenly was sporting antlers. They had let fly with the prank pellets instead of the anti-dementor rounds. Somehow, Stanley managed to keep his head, perhaps because he was the farthest from the door, but he didn’t have time to contemplate that. He glanced down at his selector and moved it to the little carving of a knife he had made to indicate which chamber held the patronus pellets. Then he was firing for all he was worth, they had been told that one round should do for any dementor, but that they should use two just to be sure. But he wasn’t thinking about that, his head was filling with the memory of that day in the corridor in Hogwarts, Knott’s laughing face smirking down at him. His finger found the trigger and round after round flew from the barrel, he stopped counting at ten, impacted the dementors. He finally stopped when he felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see the squad leader looking a little terrified himself.

It took a minute to get everyone organised again, and then moving once more. The next encounter with dementors went much smoother. The team had all set their selectors in the correct position this time, and at the first appearance of the tattered cloaks, they all opened up on the creatures. More rounds were used than was needed, but then another of his old Lieutenants favorite sayings was, “there’s no such thing as overkill.”

The first of the prisoners they found on the first level up from the ground. There were four on that level, and none of them were the one Stanley wanted. They were bagged easily. One of the squad switched to the sleep rounds, shot the poor bastards from outside the cell, then went in and doused them with the shrinking solution and dropped them in the carry case strapped to his back. Quick and efficient.

They found Knott on the fourth floor, and Stanley volunteered to get him while the others took care of the rest. He switched to the prank pellets and waited for the rest of the squad to look away before sending one into the cell. He waited a moment to make it look good before he opened the door and stepped inside. Releasing the gun he was pleased that it slid around to rest comfortably against his back. This was a safety feature they had been told, so that no one lost their gun. And so that if anyone panicked they wouldn’t accidentally leave one behind for the enemy to find.

Drawing his wand he cast a quick silencing charm at the door so no one would over hear what he would say. “Do you remember me?” He asked the haggard looking man when Knott looked up at him. “Do you remember what you did to me?”

Knot smiled and tilted his head. “Did it hurt?” His voice was cracked, it came out in a hiss of long unused vocal chords.

“You know damn well that it did.” Came the shaky reply from Stanley. “And now you’re finally gonna pay for it.” He raised his wand to point at Knott, and spat. “Crucio.”

Knott screamed and fell forward. Stan was only able to hold the spell for a few seconds, and when he let it go he was shaking with the effort. He hadn’t used much magic since Hogwarts and that spell took a lot of energy. He wasn’t finished though, Knott needed to pay for what he had done. As he raised his head to look Knot in the eye he realised his mistake. He had forgotten where Knott landed when he fell forward, the wand was only inches away from Knott’s shaking hand. And while the man was ragged, tired, weak from long imprisonment, he was not incapable, and he had desperation on his side.

Stanley watched in a mix of confusion and terror as Knott reached up and plucked the wand from his fingers. Desperately he scrabbled for the gun on his back as the wand came up to point between his eyes. Just as he got the gun in position he heard the last thing he had ever wanted to hear. “Avada Kedavra.” Knotts voice croaked out.


	70. Chapter 70

Mass Breakout from Azkaban Prison. The headline of the Daily Prophet glared the morning of Halloween. The breakfast tables of the Great Hall were awash with discussion of what it could mean. Up at the Head Table, Dolres Umbridge could be seen seething over her eggs. Although whether she was upset at the idea of the breakout, or because it seemed that many of the students were taking this as evidence that he who must not be named was indeed back, was hard to tell.

At the Ravenclaw table the discussion went back and forth, with some students decrying the prophet for claiming it must be the work of Sirius Black. While others defended the rag, stating that it couldn’t be anyone else, as everyone knew that there was no way to come back from the dead, therefore there was no way that the claims of the dark lord’s return could be true.

Harry tuned them out for the most part, choosing instead to focus on his bacon and toast. He knew of course that the Alliance had planned to take the prison, he just hoped it was actually them that had done so, and not the death eaters. It would be a blow to morale if they had been beaten to the prize, so to speak.

Besides he had more interesting things to think about. Specifically, the prank he and the twins were planning for dinner. It would be difficult to set up, as it was a school wide prank, and would be set on the doors to the Great Hall. As they wanted it to be a dinner prank, it had to be done between lunch and dinner, late enough that it wouldn’t hit anyone too soon, but early enough that they wouldn’t have to be the first ones hit. With the new patrol schedule Umbridge had issued the prefects they would have to cut it rather close.

They had a close call as they were laying in the charms around the doorway. One of the prefects, a Slytherin they thought, nearly caught them as they were leaving, but they managed to get away in time. They giggled together as they imagined everyone’s faces at the feast.

It was a bit strange though, Harry thought as they made their way back to the Great Hall for the Halloween feast. His first three years at Hogwarts, he had skipped the Halloween feast in favor of other activities. He had not once felt that he was missing anything either. He had enjoyed the free time he had on those nights thoroughly, and the adventures he had found on each occasion. Last year though, the choosing for the tournament had meant that the most exciting place to be for the evening was at the feast, and this year, due to the prank they were playing, the same was true again.

In a way, he missed the freedom of his first few years, but at the same time, he was glad of the friendships that he had built. More than friends really, these two redheaded genius menaces, were more like brothers than mere friends. And Hermione was very much like an older sister. She would pester him to do his homework, help him find things when he was researching, or just lend him support when he needed it. Yet she was also willing to sit down and play a game, or watch a movie whenever he needed to rest his brain.

And then there was Luna. He smiled as he thought back to their first meeting. Kissing each others hands had grown into so much more. From that wonderful tickle fight in the library that had brought the little group of friends together, to slaying a basilisk, to exploring the island and hotel, to figuring out how to fight a dragon, go for a swim, and navigate a maze. They had grown together, helped each other discover themselves and find their way.

That made Harry think about the challenge he had been set over the summer. The challenge he still lacked an answer to. What did he want for his life after Hogwarts? What did he want to do when the war was over? He had thought about it, and asked for advice on it, and still he couldn’t answer the question. He had lost interest in quidditch, which at least he was sure was not a sign of depression, as John had worried about. Rather it was a sign of his own changing priorities, it had taken three sessions with his therapist to work that out. He had also decided that curse breaking wasn’t his career of choice. Really he had originally seen it as a way to get away from the Dursleys, but now that was taken care of he wasn’t terribly interested in pursuing it as a career. So what did he want?

The question continued to roll around in his head as he followed the twins into the feast.

The prank, and reactions to it, were immediately noticeable when they entered the Great Hall. The entrances shot a charm at everyone to alter their features so that they all had random animal appearances. A first year passed by as they entered sporting long floppy dog ears and a tail, nearby at the Hufflepuff table a group of girls were chattering away despite each of them sporting a beak and brightly, if differently, coloured feathers. Harry had grown a unicorn horn, and his hair had grown out in a silvery mane when he entered. While the twins eyebrows had stretched toward the sky, in a rather good interpretation of a great horned owl.

Laughing they separated to go to their tables, and Harry found Luna who was looking rather cuddly, with cat ears and whiskers.

Up at the Head Table, Dumbledore was looking a bit put out. His neck had stretched and grown black and orange spots, like a giraffe. Mcgonagall, in an odd twist was also sporting cat ears which looked a bit like her own animagus form. Possibly she had changed them for comfort. However, seeing Umbridge almost had Harry rolling out of his seat in laughter. On a normal day, the woman was described as being toadlike. With her wide face and large eyes, but today, the resemblance was uncanny. And when she opened her mouth to speak to Professor Flitwick her tongue darted out and licked at the bow on her head as though it actually was a large fly.

Reactions of course were mixed, while most of the students seemed to be enjoying the frivolity, some were taking their changes rather badly. Pansy Parkinson over at the Slytherin table could be heard whining about how much trouble it was to see the table with her eyes situated on the sides of her head, she had been hit with chameleon features. And some few seemed almost oblivious to the changes. A third year Gryffindor was carefully eating his way through a plate of spinach and carrots, completely ignoring that his hands had been replaced with eagle claws.

Everyone was glad though when the effects ended as they exited the Great Hall, as some of the changes would have made navigating back to their common rooms difficult. Not to mention the damage they might have done to their beds, with claws, horns, and hooves.

Breakfast the next day, was a completely different story. As the five friends were taking seats they were approached by none other than the toad herself, who was looking like the frog who had gotten the fly.

“Weasleys, Potter, Granger, Lovegood. Detention tonight, my office.” She smiled even broader, consequently reminding them all of her features from the feast. They were hard pressed not to laugh. “I had a little chat with Miss Parkinson, who assured me that she saw the five of you loitering around the Great Hall after lunch yesterday. Clearly you are to blame for that little prank last night.”

After she left, Hermione was fuming. “So, Parkinson is telling lies to the toad. I left ten minutes ahead of you at lunch yesterday. I had a meeting with Professor Vector.”

“We know Hermione.” Fred whispered. “And we’ll get her for this.”

“Just as soon as we think of something appropriate.” George added.

“Time enough to think on that later though.” Harry stated. “Breakfast, then class, then comeuppance.” He said pointedly looking at the dishes that were now filling with food.

Hermione nodded. “Right, but I want in on this one. I’m not letting her get away with this.”

They fell into a solemn quiet as they began to eat.

At seven that evening the five friends filed into the office of Dolores Umbridge. Harry took the opportunity to look around. He had not entered the office of the defense teacher before, except last year when he and the twins had captured Crouch junior and rescued Moody. He had not on that occasion though, taken the opportunity to check out the office. He had been in too much of a hurry to complete the task they were there for.

The office was rather cozy, Harry thought. A large desk took up one wall, behind which Umbridge herself sat. Bookshelves lined two walls, and five desks had been set up in the space between the door and the desk. It would be a comfortable place to work Harry thought, if not for the garish decoration that Umbridge had splashed the place with. Everything had been coloured pink. Doilies were on nearly every surface, and every inch of wall not covered with bookshelves, was covered with small ceramic plates, with pictures of kittens playing.

The room screamed little girl, which when compared to Umbridge herself, was clearly meant to heighten her image of herself as an approachable, likeable person. 

“Welcome children.” The woman simpered at them in her mockery of a girlish voice. “Please have a seat.” She motioned to the desks. “You’re going to be writing some lines for me tonight.”

“What lines are we to write?” Hermione asked in a small voice, her head hung. She had been taking it hard all day that the twins and Harry had not yet come up with a proper retaliation against the toad. And rather than snap at the woman, and thus give her an excuse to give them more detentions, Hermione was choosing to be meek.

“Hmm, I think, yes, you will write I Must be Respectful.” Came the girly reply.

“How many times?’ Harry asked.

“Oh I should think, as many times as it takes for the message to sink in.”

They reached for their bags, but before they could open them, parchment flew from a cupboard to land on their desks.

“You needn’t worry about ink or quills dears, you’ll be using a rather special set of mine.” The toad woman held up a set of black feathered quills, which she sent to them with a wave of her wand. “You may begin.”

For a minute there was silence in the room, apart from the scratching of quills. Then almost as one the five hissed and reached for their left hands, which were stinging. Five equally horrified expressions showed that they had seen for a moment the words they had just written carved into the backs of their own hands. The wounds closed quickly, and in a breath not even the faint red line of their passing was visible.

Slowly the five friends looked up at the pink clad monster in the room.

“Something wrong dears?” Umbridge smiled.

As one, five wands lifted towards the thing claiming to be a teacher and five voices cried “stupefy.”

A moment later they were all looking at each other, rather incredulously.

“We attacked a teacher.” Hermione said, sounding a little frantic.

“She didn’t think she would get away with that?” Asked Fred.

“We attacked a teacher.” Hermione continued to fret.

“What should we do with her now?” George asked.

“We attacked a teacher.”

“We know Hermione.” Luna said in her airy way, while wrapping Hermione in a hug. “It’s okay, when everything is over we’ll be hailed as heroes. Until then, we just need to keep ourselves under control.”

Harry shook his head in bewilderment. “I think this might actually get us into some real trouble guys. But first things first. We should move that down to the Chamber and into one of the cells.” He pointed at Umbridge. “We’ll want to find out why she thought she could get away with those.” He pointed to the quills lying innocently on the desks where the friends had dropped them.

Hermione gave the quills a dirty look. “We should destroy those.” She said in a voice that promised agony.

“Normally, I’d agree. Unfortunately, we might need them as evidence.” Harry frowned. “Until then though, definitely lock them away somewhere no one else can get a hold of them.”

Fred raised his wand. “I can take care of the toad if you like.”

“Sure, just make sure she survives.” Harry replied. “Luna, can you get the word out that we need a full meeting, including the Professors?”

“Sure Harry.” Luna smiled and skipped out of the room.

“I wish I understood how she can be so happy, even at a time like this.” George commented shaking his head.

“Agreed.” Hermione said. “You realize we’re probably going to be expelled for this?”

“Actually Hermione.” Harry looked at her and the grave expression he bore got the attention of the twins as well. “I’m thinking this might be the spark that starts the war for real.” Hermione and the twins gasped. “She just tried to torture us, as surely as if she’d been using the cruciatus curse. And it’s not like we didn’t know it was coming. Hell, the Azkaban thing was actually our doing. Our parents planned and arranged that to insure that Moldy couldn’t get his most dedicated followers back. As soon as he finds out, he’s going to throw a fit. I give it another week at most before he starts acting in the open, just out of rage. If we kick off our campaign a little early, what’s it gonna change?”

Hermione slowly nodded while the twins exchanged a meaning laden look. After a moment of silence Fred pointed his wand at Umbridge and muttered the incantation to turn her into an actual toad, then transfigured one of her kitten plates into a cage and dumped her into it. Holding it up he said. “There now if anyone asks we can say we caught Trevor and are returning him to Neville.”

“Good, let’s get going.” Hermione nodded again. “I don’t want to stay in this room any longer.”

The Chamber was crowded. Luna had gotten the word out, and every member of the Alliance in Hogwarts had come. And then more, the adult Weasley’s, Granger’s, Lovegood, along with Sirius, Remus, and Hardy had all come from the island. Following behind them, Emily Strodder was greeting her niece Sophy Roper, while two of their floating eye’s hovered around them, recording everything.

On the stage Harry stood waiting, seemingly alone, for the room to quiet enough that he could be heard.

When the chatter had eventually tapered off he raised a hand for attention and began to speak. “As many of you know. Earlier tonight, myself, Hermione Granger, Luna Lovegood, and Fred and George Weasley, were summoned to the office of Dolores Umbridge for detention. Here is what you don’t know. When we arrived she had us sit at desks she had set up in her office. She passed out to us a set of parchments and told us to write lines, using a special set of quills. These quills required no ink. It didn’t take long to figure out why. As we wrote, the lines were carved into our skin, the quills used our own blood as ink.” There was a collective gasp from the crowd.

“We have since checked the parchment, as we wondered why she supplied us with parchment when usually we have to supply our own for detention. The parchment was spelled to identify the writer whose blood was on it, and to store the blood for later use.” Another collective gasp followed this statement.

“In keeping with our decision to be open with our decisions, we asked you all to join us for the questioning of Umbridge.” Reaching behind him, Harry hauled the invisibility cloak from where it had hidden the woman from view. With a wave he motioned for Sirius to join him on the stage.

“Sirius if you would be so kind as to administer the veritaserum?” The older man nodded and dropped three drops from a vial into Umbridge’s mouth.

Once the potion had taken effect, the questioning began.

Harry got the first. “Secretary Umbridge, why did you intend for us to write lines in our own blood?”

The response came as thick and slow as ever. “Three reasons. First because the Minister asked me to get the students of Hogwarts under control, and pain has always served as a good motivator. Second, because my lord demanded I acquire for him the blood of his enemies, that it may be used in a ritual to grant him power over them. And third because it would have been fun to watch you squirm, knowing there was nothing you could do to stop it”

There was a hush across the room until Hardy asked. “Who is your lord?”

“The dark lord, Voldemort.”

Another gasp from the crowd preceded the third question. This time from Xenophilius Lovegood. “Does Fudge know you are a death eater?”

“No, Fudge is an idiot. He is being paid off by Knott.”

Hardy stepped up to the stage. “I think we’ve heard enough. Who votes we send her to Sanctuary with the rest of her kind?” He called to the crowd. His answer was a resounding cheer. “Good enough for me. You brought the shrinking potion didn’t you, Remus?”

“Of course.” Replied the former Professor, handing over a vial. “One teaspoon, on her head would be best.”

In a moment the woman was shrinking. Hardy plucked her up, nodded to the others and turned to leave. “I’ll get her tucked away. We need to be getting back, we have a few interrogations of our own to get to.”


	71. Chapter 71

In a magically expanded meeting room of the hotel which was now truly serving as the headquarters of the Alliance, a vast crowd was waiting to witness the interrogation of the prisoners from Azkaban. Nearly every adult member of the Alliance had come for this event. And many of the junior members were there as well, though only as witnesses.

On the stage sat a tall chair, in which the prisoners would be sat for their questioning. On each side of the chair was a tall box. The one to the left of the chair currently held the 108 captives, waiting to be questioned. The one on the right, would hold those who were found to be guilty of crimes worthy of imprisonment, but not supporters of the death eaters. On a table a short step away, sat the model of Hogsmeade, and Hogwarts, which had been named Sanctuary. This of course was where the death eaters and their supporters would go. Finally, at the far end of the stage stood several people in uniform. These would take away those who were found to be guiltless, most of whom would be taken to the infirmary for recovery.

The uniform was interesting to see. For most of the Alliance this was the first time they were seeing it. The uniform consisted of Muggle style combat boots, made with basilisk hide, black dragonhide trousers with a snug fit, a slightly loose silk pullover shirt in forest green, covered with a dark grey dueling robe, with the emblem of the Alliance emblazoned on the left breast, two crossed wands under a crown.

As the crowd settled into the comfortable seating to view the days events, Harden Hardy stepped onto the stage.

“Good morning.” The grizzled veteran called to the crowd. “Welcome to the first of what will hopefully be only a few of these interrogations. We’ll try to be as quick as we can with each of these. However, I warn you there are a lot of them to get through. If any of you need a break, there are refreshments on the back wall.” He pointed to a long table laden with finger foods and drinks. “The toilets can be found just out the doors there and to the left.” Again he pointed to the back of the room, this time to the double doors. “And finally, I must ask you all to remain as quiet as you possibly can while in here, as any interruptions will only make this take longer. And I’m sure I’m not the only one who would prefer that this not take all day.”

There was a small laugh that skittered around the room for a moment. Then everyone calmed and the first prisoner was brought out.

“We’ll be going through the six Auror guards posted in the prison first.” Hardy explained to the crowd as the first man, a tall, powerfully built man was unshrunk, stuck to the chair and dosed with veritaserum.

Turning to face the man in the chair, Hardy began. “Please state your name for the records.”

“Captain Jeremiah Stonewall.” The man replied.

“What is your role at Azkaban prison?”

“I am the guard captain. It is my duty to plan the patrol schedule, and to watch for signs of overexposure to the dementors.”

“Are you, or have you ever been, a death eater?”

“Yes.” There was a collective gasp from the crowd, and Hardy turned a glare on them.

“Will you return to the service of the death eaters, now their leader has returned?”

“Yes, there is a breakout planned for Halloween night. I am to insure that none of the guards are in a position to interfere, or at least to be separated from the allies.”

A mutter went through the crowd, the loudest being comments about how they had foiled that plan. Again, Hardy glared them into silence.

“Well, that seems to be everything we need from this prisoner. Are there any objections to sending this man to Sanctuary?” Hardy asked the room. When no reply came he motioned for one of the uniformed men to take Stonewall away.

As Hardy turned to watch the next guard being taken from the box, Stonewall was dosed with the shrinking solution again, and sent through the portal into Sanctuary. For those on stage and able to see what was happening within the model, those inside came quickly to greet the new arrival. From the looks of them, they had been availing themselves of the preserved food that had been placed with the model of the three broomsticks, as well as the array of cloth that had been laid up in the model of Twilfit and Tattings. They soon had their newest arrival moving towards the village.

None of the remaining five guards turned out to be death eaters. And they were taken to the infirmary to recover from their capture, and be invited to join the Alliance.

With them done it was time to turn to the actual prisoners. The first to be brought out was Thaddeus Nott.

“As some of you know, we had one casualty on the Azkaban mission.” Hardy explained to the crowd as the ragged looking prisoner was stuck to the chair and dosed. “Stanley Shortstep, died in the pursuit of his duty. We know he was killed by this man, as he was holding Stanley’s wand when he was captured. Today, we will learn how this came about.”

Turning to the prisoner he began. “Please state your name for the records.”

“Thaddeus Claymore Nott.” The reply was dry, empty of emotion in a way that was beyond the normal effect of the veritaserum. As though this man had given up all hope.

“Explain what happened that allowed you to gain control of the wand of Stanley Shortstep.”

“I heard a commotion outside my cell. It felt like hours, I couldn’t tell what was happening. Then there were a bunch of people outside my cell, arguing over who was grabbing whom. Shortstep volunteered to get me. When the others left he shot something into my cell. I couldn’t tell what, but it didn’t seem to have any effect. Then he entered and drew his wand. He put a silencing spell on the door and asked if remembered him. I did of course, worthless mudblood filth that he was, unworthy of magic. I taught him better in Hogwarts. Not that I said as much to him. He got angry, hit me with a cruciatus curse. Guess he didn’t know how much energy that takes, because he lost control of the spell. When he was ready to continue, I’d managed to inch my way close enough that I could grab the wand right out of his hand. I killed him, then I freed myself from the cell. I went to free the others, but I ran into the rest of the people who came with Shortstep. They hit me with something that made me sleep.”

Looking out over the crowd Hardy commented. “We’ll need to have a talk with our forward team about what is and is not allowed it seems. Not to mention basic safety protocols.”

Returning his attention to the prisoner he asked the most important question. “Would you join the death eaters if they asked you?”

“Of course, it is what I was raised for. To purge our world of the useless mudblood filth that infects it.”

“That’s enough for me.” Hardy said as he turned to the crowd. “Any objections to sending him to Sanctuary?”

Again the response was silence, and Hardy nodded to the guards.

After Nott, they focused on the captured death eaters. Though with each one the question was raised, did another mistake like Sirius get made? There were 27 captured death eaters to be questioned. In the end, only one other had been falsely accused, though it was discovered that Sirius was not the first, nor the last, to be sent to Azkaban without a trial.

With the death eaters dealt with, it was time for the other prisoners. Those accused of crimes which while terrible, were not to do with blood purity. Excepting those whose crimes were specifically against muggles or muggleborn, though even in those cases, the choice of victim was sometimes due to circumstances, rather than hate.

With 75 prisoners to question, it took hours. Each prisoner had to be removed from the box, unshrunk, stuck to the chair, and then dosed. That took two minutes for each prisoner. Then they were each asked for their name, the crime they had been imprisoned for, whether they had actually committed the crime, and finally if they were a supporter of pureblood supremacy. Answers took anywhere from two to five minutes depending on the number of crimes, and how much detail they went into in their answers. One memorable prisoner by the name of Hollingsworth Holstead took an astounding 18 minutes, as his list of crimes was 13 murders, 17 thefts, and 4 cases of muggle baiting. He was guilty on all counts and proudly stated that he would join the death eaters in a heartbeat. He was sent to Sanctuary, where at least his crimes, if he chose to commit them again, would no longer be against those who were unable to defend themselves properly.

Of the 75 only 13 were not sent to Sanctuary, and of those 13 only 4 were found to be guiltless of any crime that the Alliance cared about. These were guilty of minor theft, and operating stores without proper licensing. Convicted more because of their blood status than their guilt. The rest were fed draught of living death, reshrunk, and placed in the second box. They would be moved to a new prison facility once the war was over. Until then they would be safe, and out of the way.

With the interrogations complete, Sanctuary was moved to its safe location, deep beneath the island, in a special safe room, only accessible by a few people. There it would remain until needed again.

Three tired, slightly sore students, shuffled through the portal into the Chamber beneath Hogwarts. Harry, Luna, and Hermione were almost regretting their decision to watch the questioning of the prisoners. It had been a long day, and they had spent most of it sitting and quietly watching. Harry had fallen asleep twice, Luna once, and even Hermione had needed to get up and walk around a few times in order to maintain her attention.

Now at last it was over, and they were returning to the school, partly wishing they had opted to visit Hogsmeade with the rest of their friends. Until the twins rushed up to them as they exited the portal room.

“Harry, Luna, Hermione.” They yelled as they wrapped the three in a group hug. “You won’t believe what happened.”

“Let them breathe you two.” Came an unexpected voice from behind them.

“Percy.” Hermione cried launching herself at the older boy and grabbing him into a hug. “What are you doing here?”

“It's a bit of a story. Perhaps we should sit?” Percy answered motioning to an empty table.

When they had all sat and Dobby had brought them drinks, Percy waved at the twins. “I think you two should begin.” He said quietly.

The two shared a look, and George nodded to his twin. Taking a deep breath, as though steeling himself for hard work, Fred spoke. “Hogsmeade was attacked.” Hermione gasped, Harry clenched his fists where they sat on the table, and even Luna’s eyes went wide.

Holding up a hand for silence, Fred continued. “I don’t actually know much beyond that. We were in Zonko’s when it happened. Someone, it sounded like Mcgonagall, cast a sonorous, and warned the whole village. Students were then ordered to return to the castle. We thought about going to help, except we didn’t know where to go, and we remembered what Hardy said about following orders in the field. So we came back here. Things were really hectic for a while, people rushing around trying to find out what happened. Then they started carrying in the wounded.”

He paused here to take a sip of tea, before anyone could yell at him to continue he held up a hand again. “Sorry, I’ve had a dry throat all day. Only one of ours as far as I can tell. Dennis Creevey. The group that was attacked was all third years. Mixed houses, not sure if they were together, or just happened to be in the same place. They were attacked outside of Honeydukes.”

Percy signaled his brother who went quiet, as everyone turned to the eldest at the table. “I can take it from there.” Percy offered, the twins nodded their assent. “A group of six people dressed in death eater regalia apparated into the village, right in front of Honeydukes. They attacked the first group of students they saw. Nothing lethal, thankfully. But they were still all hurt pretty bad. When teachers and older students began to fight back, they apparated out again. Altogether, they were present for perhaps five minutes. The Aurors were called in of course, but have so far been unable to do more than take statements. I was sent with them, officially to take notes. Unofficially to check in with Madam Umbridge, and to make sure that no one claims that death eaters had anything to do with the attack. Fudge is already spinning this to claim that Dumbledore was behind the attack, in an effort to destabilize the Ministry.”

“That lying..” Hermione squeaked and lost her voice. She went very red for a moment before she stopped, took a deep breath, and wrestled herself back under control.

“It’s starting Perce.” Harry spoke quietly, a simmer of rage just under his tone. “The opening salvos have been fired. The next one won’t be so small, and won’t end with just a few injuries.”

“I know.” Percy replied sadly. “I just wish it could be different.”

The twins looked at each other and stood. They walked around the table and pulled their older brother into a tight hug. “We do too Perce.” They said together, the words almost lost in the family embrace. After a moment Harry and the girls moved to join.

Some minutes later they parted, a little moist but feeling better. And Luna asked the question that was on all of their minds. “What do we do now?”

Percy smiled down at the whimsical blonde. “We wait, unfortunately, for the moment, that's all we can do. This needs to be sorted out, and the Aurors will need to leave before the Alliance can do anything here. Right now their up there,” he motioned to the ceiling, and all of Hogwarts above, “taking statements, trying to get a better picture of what happened. Meanwhile, a group of healers were brought in from St. Mungo’s to assist with the injured. The infirmary is a madhouse, and its where everything is going on for the moment. So, we wait.”

Hermione, looking far calmer than she had just a few minutes ago, held up a hand. Chuckling, Percy nodded to her and she asked her own question. “How did you get away to be here?”

“Oh, that was easy. Once the initial statements were taken, I requested some personal time to see to my family members in the school. Dawlish, the Auror in charge, was pleased for the excuse. They don’t really need me, and he knew I was here to do damage control more than anything else.”

“Oh, that makes sense.” Hermione whispered to herself, though everyone heard.

Harry had a different thought. “You said, checking on Umbridge was part of your job here?” At Percy’s nod he continued. “And what happens when you find she’s not here?”

“Umm, well. I suppose my first move would be to check her home. If for some reason she’s not in the school, that is the next most likely place for her to be. Why do you ask Harry?” Percy replied suspiciously.

“She was sent to Sanctuary after she admitted that she was sent here by Moldy Farts to torture Harry and everyone else who sided with him.” Luna answered, drawing sputters and looks of consternation from the whole table. Looking around at them she smiled. “What? It’s true.”

After a couple of false starts, Percy finally spoke. “Well, that makes things a bit more difficult. But I think I can come up with something to throw Fudge off for a bit. It won’t last though.”

“I don’t think it will need to.” Hermione commented. “Like Harry said, this won’t be the last attack the death eaters make. I expect this was just a response to losing their people from Azkaban. And I know the Alliance is planning assaults on other targets as well. I think they’re just waiting for the death eaters to make a big move before they really start. It shouldn’t be too long before so much is going on that one missing person will barely even be noticed.”

Nodding solemnly, the table fell silent as they all reached for their drinks.

An hour passed in quiet togetherness as the group waited for more news. Finally, as Percy was preparing to leave to continue his duties with the Aurors, they were joined by Professors Mcgonagall, and Flitwick.

“Ah, Mister Weasley.” Mcgonagall said as she approached. “The Aurors were wondering about you.”

Percy stood and thanked the Professor. He said his goodbyes quickly, exchanging hugs before heading off to rejoin the Aurors. When he was gone, the Professors took seats at the table.

“I expect you have been waiting for news.” Flitwick said as he accepted a cup of tea from Dobby.

“We have Professor.” Hermione agreed.

“Well then.” Mcgonagall began. “Let’s start with what you already know shall we?”

The group relayed what they had been told already and the Professors seemed to relax a little.

“It’s good that the story hasn’t gotten too out of hand.” Flitwick said.

“Indeed.” Mcgonagall added. “There is only a little more. What you heard is essentially correct. Six people appeared in front of Honeydukes, and attacked the first group of students they saw. A dozen students, from all four houses. Seven third years, three fourth years, and two fifth years. They then shouted a message, and left just as the teachers who were in the village for security showed up.”

“The message that was shouted.” Flitwick continued the tale. “Was, we know it was you Potter, return our fellows, or we won’t be so kind next time.”

The faces of the students at the table went a little pale at these words. After a moment, Harry looked up, a steely expression on his face. “We need to find out where they are.”

For a time they discussed ideas on where the death eaters might be hiding. Eventually they fell into a companionable silence. They skipped dinner in the Great Hall that night and instead shared a quiet meal in the Chamber, where they could commiserate together.


	72. Chapter 72

The following day was somber, quiet. As the castle adjusted to the new state of things. The Slytherin students were surprisingly not bothering anyone. With the loss of the two loudest blood purists they seemed to be dealing with an internal power struggle. Those Slytherins in the Alliance had not shared in open forum what was happening, and Harry had been so busy that he hadn’t thought to ask about it yet.

The quiet of the Chamber was broken as Harry began to contemplate the state of Slytherin house. Tracey Davis rushed into the Chamber, screaming. “Help! They’re going to kill her.”

The Chamber, which had been bustling with conversations, went silent. A dozen people rushed forward to calm the Slytherin and see what was going on. Susan Bones pressed a calming draught into the girls hand which finally allowed her to get her panic under control enough to tell her story.

The children of death eaters in Slytherin it seemed had finally put some facts together and come to a conclusion. Daphne Greengrass had not been as supportive of them and their views in recent years as they liked. Over the summer it had been announced that she was to be in a contract with Theodore Nott. A few days later it was revealed that Theo had gone missing, then Daphne went missing. It had been assumed that the two had run off together. But then she had returned to Hogwarts, but he hadn’t. Then they spotted the last straw for them. Daphne’s focus ring, they finally recognised the similarity it had to other rings they had seen around the castle.

Tracey had slipped out of the common room before spells started flying, but she had seen a few of them drawing their wands with malicious looks. As she was leaving, she overheard one of the seventh years whispering that Daphne might know where the Malfoy’s were as well, so they would need to not kill her too quickly.

The story was quickly passed from person to person as the noise level in the Chamber grew. Over and over, Harry heard people asking their friends what they were going to do. Then Hermione asked Harry the same question and his vision snapped into focus.

Striding to the stage where he could easily been seen and heard, Harry leapt up and shouted. “Silence!” As one the entire Junior Alliance, at least those in the room, turned to face him. “Slytherin students, front and center.” He called, pointing to the area in front of the stage. A moment later Tracey was standing there, but no others appeared. “Damn, okay, I need six volunteers. Those who went through the training field this summer only. This is a combat mission.”

A bit of jostling brought eight students to the front. Pointing to the first six, Harry continued. “You six, grab your gear. Tracey, get your mask at least. Take them to the Slytherin common room.” Focusing on the six, he made his voice as stern as he could. “Drop everyone, sleeping gas. We’ll sort them out later. Go.” The last word was nearly shouted and the seven students took off in a rush.

Turning back to the crowd He searched out the next person he needed. “Fred, George, Neville, Hermione, Ron, Dean.” He called, a moment later the six named were pushing their way to the front. “You get Gryffindor. Same thing, sleeping gas, drop everyone. We’ll sort them out later.”

Cedric Diggory, the new Headboy, stepped to the front. “What are..” He began to ask.

Harry cut him off. “We’re taking Hogwarts. We can’t fight a war in here while our parents are fighting out there.” Turning to the crowd again he spotted his next assistant. “Hannah, pick five of your fellow Hufflepuffs, not Cedric, I need him for a different job. Guess what your doing.”

“You got it Harry, where should we bring them?” Came an answering yell.

“The Great Hall, we’ll handle things there.” He answered. “Next I need five Ravenclaw volunteers, we’ll get our house. Cedric, I need you to grab nine others. You get the halls. Grab the teachers and any straggling students. Take the map, get everyone. Anyone not going on one of these jobs, stay here, we’ll send you a patronus when it’s done.” With that he hopped off the stage, joined the Ravenclaws who were going with him and headed for the gear room.

Along the way he grabbed the last person he needed, Luna. “Luna, I need you to go to the island. Grab Hardy and any of the other leaders you can. Tell them what’s happening and have them bring the veritaserum and Sanctuary.”

An hour, that’s how long it took for the five teams to make their way through the castle and subdue every student or teacher that was not part of the Alliance. It would have been less, except for the heavy resistance in Slytherin house, and the few in other houses who saw them coming and ran.

Of course, when they saw a half dozen people wearing dueling robes, in a material so dark it appeared black, with their faces covered with an odd mask, most of which were painted, they likely assumed that death eaters had gotten into the school.

In the end though, in made little difference how any of them reacted. Thanks to the paintball guns, and the sleeping gas they launched, hardly anyone was a challenge. And only one successful spell landed on the Alliance strike teams. A trip jinx, oddly cast by a second year Hufflepuff.

In the Great Hall, the Head Table had been moved to allow a small stage area, upon which a chair had been set. Next to the chair, a small table holding Sanctuary. The image reminded Harry of the questioning of the Azkaban prisoners. Which was intentional, as they would do the same here. The students and staff of Hogwarts were to be questioned concerning their allegiances. Those found to be supporters of the death eaters, would join those already in Sanctuary. Harry thought they might also send everyone else who believed in the blood purist tripe as well, even those who weren’t violent about it. After all that was the idea behind Sanctuary. It was meant to be a place where those people could have the life they wanted. Free of any muggle influence, a place that had never even been touched by non-magical hands. But the last he had discussed it with the adults, they were still undecided on the question of sending anyone other than confirmed death eaters and their direct supporters. So he would have to wait and see.

Hardy stood on the platform looking out on the few students not in a magical sleep, much as he had looked at the gathered Alliance members at the questioning a few days ago. “Well, I didn’t expect to be doing this again so soon.” That got a slight laugh from the students. And a bigger one from the few adults who had been at the Azkaban questioning. Though as there were only a handful of them, it was hard to hear over the mumbling of the younger crowd.

“Alright.” Hardy said loudly, gathering attention to himself. “A quick explanation for those who haven’t seen this before. He pointed to a hovering ball in front of the platform. This is being recorded so we can show that we were fair. Everyone here,” he pointed to the unconscious group, “will be questioned under veritaserum. While only a couple of questions will be asked of each person, there are as you can see, a lot of people. So it’s going to take a while. If you need a break, you know where the doors are. I need you all to remain quiet in the Hall. Veritaserum compels anyone under its effect to answer any question they hear. So if you all start asking questions, this will take a lot longer. So keep them to yourself. We’ll be going through the Professors first.” He turned and nodded to the guards standing next to the line of sleeping teachers, who brought up the first. Harry had to hold in a chuckle, it was Professor Flitwick.

Several of the people around Harry wondered why they didn’t question Dumbledore first. Harry chose to remain silent on the issue, he thought he knew why. They in fact, had Dumbledore lined up last of the teachers, and had a different list of questions for him.

Flitwick, Mcgonagall, and Pomfrey were the first three. They were asked if they were death eaters, or supporters. Even through the veritaserum they managed to glare at Hardy. Then they were released. The same was done with the rest of the teachers, none of whom were Alliance members. Somehow Sprout had not been hit with the sleeping gas, but had joined her badgers in caring for the sleeping students.

At last they brought Dumbledore to the chair. They were cautious to make sure the veritaserum was working before they woke him.

“Please state your name for the record.” Hardy asked

“Albus Percival Wulfric Bryan Dumbledore.” Came the monotone reply.

“Are you a death eater?”

“No.”

“Do you support the death eater’s agenda?”

“No.”

Thinking this was the end of the questions for the Headmaster, a few people started talking quietly, until Hardy quelled them with a glare. “Did you allow Sirius Black to be sent to Azkaban without trial?”

“Yes.”

The crowd was shocked, stunned into absolute silence as Hardy continued. “Why?”

“Two reasons, I believed him guilty. And I needed him out of the way so I could place Harry Potter with his mothers sister. I believed that only there would the boy be safe.”

“Did you allow death eaters to go free when the last war ended?”

There was some confusion in the crowd over this question. It was practically common knowledge that death eaters were allowed to buy their way out of prison. And they had expected more questions about Sirius Black, and/or the boy who lived.

But that didn’t matter to Albus, who was being compelled to answer by the veritaserum. “I did.”

“Why.” Hardy asked loudly over the gasps from the crowd. 

“I believed they had seen the error of their ways, and that by giving them a chance, they would turn to a different path.”

It was almost exactly what Harry had expected. He had discussed with many of the adults in the Alliance, Hardy included, the actions taken by Dumbledore after the first war, and up to the first few years of Harry’s time at Hogwarts. Everyone had been curious about his actions, especially those which led to innocent people, such as Sirius, suffering, while the guilty went free. Albus answers were what Harry had expected them to be though. Albus believed that he was right, that everyone deserved a second chance, except where it interfered with his plans, thus Sirius.

Hardy nodded to one of the guards, and Albus was fed another potion. This one putting him back into a deep sleep. He was then given over into the care of Madam Pomfrey who took him to the hospital wing.

Then it was time for the students. In the interest of not showing any kind of favor, they had been lined up in alphabetical order by last name. With just under six hundred students to question, it took all night. Breakfast was being served as the last few were questioned.

Each student was asked for their name, if they were a death eater, or a supporter, or a blood purist. A hundred and fifty answered yes to one or more.

The death eaters and supporters were shrunk and sent to Sanctuary without delay. While the blood purists were given the same potion that had been given to Dmubledore and sent to the hospital wing. Apparently it was still undecided what to do with them. Though that decision would now need to be made sooner, rather than later. 

A list was made of all those who had been sent to Sanctuary and a notice was drawn up to inform the parents of those students. They would be given the opportunity to turn themselves in and be sent to join their children. There was after all, no plan to seperate families, unless they wanted to be seperated.

Nymphadora Tonks was having a good day. With the help of her favorite cousin, Sirius, she had finally gotten Remus to agree to a date. Head Auror Scrimgeor had signed off on her leave for next week. And until then she had been assigned to guard duty in Hogsmeade.

If she weren’t afraid she’d trip herself, she’d be skipping through the halls of Ministry.

Yes indeed, a good day. That is, until the alarms started blaring.

From where she was in the bowels of the Ministry, she had no idea what was happening. In the hopes of finding out something she sent a patronus to Shacklebolt, who was on duty in the Atrium. Then she started running for the elevators.

Halfway to her goal she got a reply. Shacklebolt's silvery lynx landed in front of her. His deep measured voice rumbled out from the cat like creature. “Death eaters attacking, get anyone you can to the exits.”

“Oh shit.” She whispered to herself as she slid to a stop. For a heartbeat she stood there, stunned. Then she shook her head and got moving. Unsure if it would be of any help or not, she nonetheless recalled the complaints that no word had gotten to the Alliance about the attack on Hogsmeade until long after it was over, and sent her patronus to Sirius, informing him of the attack.

Knowing it would take time. Probably more than she had just for the message to reach its target she leaned forward cutting her wind resistance, trying to get just a little more speed as she ran for the elevators.

Her first stop, the closest to where she had started, was the office of Arthur Weasley. The office of Misuse of Muggle Artifacts was a tiny affair with only two wizards appointed to it. Arthur and an elderly man by the name of Perkins. Neither of whom were there when she arrived.

Swearing again, she turned to run for her next stop on the other end of this level, the goblin liaison office. Where Dirk Cresswell, another Alliance member in the Ministry should be. Along the way she finally started running into people. She paused in her run long enough to inform them of what she knew, and to direct them to the back and side exits, away from the Atrium.

Thankfully Cresswell was in his office, and was glad of the warning. He agreed to make his way out as quickly, and quietly as possible.

“Okay girlie, next stop, meeting room three.” Tonks said to herself as she began running again. Meeting room three was the next most likely place to find Arthur, as that was where he generally met with the heads of other departments to help them hide their activities from the muggles.

Along the way, which included another elevator ride, she found more people milling around, wondering what was going on. Again she paused to tell them what was happening and urge them to leave the building and allow the Aurors to handle the situation.

More time she didn’t have to spare spent, she got moving again, hoping she wasn’t too late. Arthur was not in the meeting room, there were however three department heads having a meeting. She quickly told them what was going on, then had to calm their panic as she attempted to explain the evacuation procedure.

A quick run through this level of the building turned up no one else. One more level above her and then she would need to make her way down.

One level up was the top level of the Ministry. Which housed only a few offices, none of which were likely to be where Arthur was, but there could be others hiding. Cursing her poor luck she checked them all. She did find a few people hiding and sent them to the emergency exits before checking the Atrium.

The main entrance to the Ministry was a war zone. Forty or fifty black robed, white masked death eaters stood at the far end sending spell after spell at doors where a dozen Aurors stood alternately shielding and shooting spells back. Around the red robed men and women of the Auror corps there was a nearly solid wall of sparkling magic blocking the rain of incoming red, blue, pink, purple, and white spells. It did nothing to alter the occasional green.

As she looked out at the scene two things caught her eye. The first was a red haired man standing with the Aurors lifting chunks of the pavement that had been blasted into rubble into the path of incoming green spells. She had found Arthur Weasley. The second was a tall dark skinned man in red robes, lying face down ten feet outside the protection of the shielding spells.

“Shack!” She cried rushing a few steps forward until someone grabbed her arm.

“It’s death out there girly.” Yelled a familiar voice. Turning to see who had grabbed her, she recognised her mentor, Alastor “Mad-Eye” Moody.

“Moody?” She yelled incredulously. For a fleeting moment the question of what he was doing here flitted across her mind. Then she swatted it away, the reasons for the retired Auror to have stopped in today could be contemplated later. Pointing to her partner she yelled back. “If he’s alive, we need to get him out of here.”

Moody nodded. “Agreed, but going beyond that shield is a death sentence. So how do you recommend we grab the man?”

That made her pause. He was right, with the amount of spell fire going on out there she wouldn’t be able to get to Shacklebolt, let alone pull him back to safety. But Mad-Eye would never countenance leaving a man to die, so he must have, wait. Pull him, of course.

Turning to where she could see Shacklebolt lying on the ground she lifted her wand. “Accio Shack’s harness!” It was difficult to accio a person. It required more energy than an object of similar weight. The popular theory was that a person’s magic interfered with the spell. But Aurors have a dangerous job, and sometimes they needed a way to get a friend off the field quickly. Thus the invention of the harness. A belt specially designed to allow for an accio to be used on it, then shielded so that only someone whose blood had been added to the belt could actually use it. So that a dark wizard couldn’t use it against them, by simply pulling an Auror off their feet, or over a cliff. Leaving a trail of dust behind him, Shacklebolt was pulled across the field to Tonks’ feet.

Moody nodded. “Good girl, now, take him and the civilians and get them out of here. We’ll hold them here as long as we can, but it won’t be long.” Tonks looked like she was going to argue, so Moody gave her a little shove. “Go girl, this won’t be the last fight, no matter what those ingrates want. Get them out of here, live to fight another day.”

Nodding, Tonks wiped a tear from her eye, there was a lot of dust in the air. Then she turned and yelled for the few civilians huddled behind the red robes. “This way folks, follow me, emergency exits.” Then she grabbed Arthur and levitated Shacklebolt and started running again.

It was a lot harder to run she found when she was dragging one man and floating another along ahead of her, and so she quickly slowed to a fast walk.

She had made it to the elevators when Sirius response caught up to her. “Extra emergency exit, in Arthur's office. Help is on the way, but will take a while.”

With a grim look, Arthur sent his own patronus back. “Cancel help, Ministry fallen. Prepare for refugees.”

After that they didn’t speak again until they had managed to reach one of the emergency exits. Most of the civilians split off there, heading for their own homes. Tonks, Shacklebolt, and Arthur Apparated to the Burrow, where they could take a portal to the island.


	73. Chapter 73

At Hogwarts, in the teachers lounge a meeting was taking place.

Mcgonagall was finishing a report. “And the last of the Alliance parents have been moved into the castle.”

“It’s nice we actually have enough space for everyone, without anyone being in tents.” Commented John Granger.

“Indeed, though I could have wished it had happened a different way.” Kingsley Shacklebolt rumbled while holding an ice pack to his head. Madam Pomfrey had argued against him being here as he was still recovering, but he had won by promising to remain seated.

“True, but we work with what we have, not what we wish we had.” Hardy spoke into the quiet murmurs of agreement. “Now onto other concerns. The Ministry is lost. What’s our next move?”

Professor Flitwick stood on his seat and spoke as loudly as his squeaky voice would allow. “I would recommend the evacuation of Hogsmeade. We have the space here in the castle, and it’s the next most likely target for a large scale assault.”

“Agreed.” Several people called which was followed by a general agreement, until Sirius spoke up. “While I agree that Hogsmeade is a likely target, it isn’t the only one. And there’s a problem with simply bringing everyone from the village into the castle. We don’t know for sure which side any of them stand on, or if any of them had been imperiused already.”

That quieted the agreement rapidly as the gathered teachers and Alliance leadership nodded.

“So, what do we do then?” Asked Professor Sprout. “We can’t just leave them out there. Even if some of them might be against us, not all of them are.”

“Two birds, one stone.” Hardy’s voice cut across the room. “We can answer both questions at once. We find any supporters the same way Harry and his friends did. And we have since. Veritaserum. As for the imperius possibility, well, it isn’t nice, but. There are a few spells which will cut the connection. For example most stunners will knock out an imperius, a few sleeping spells as well. We tested our sleeping gas a couple weeks ago, it works.”

Remus shot a concerned look at Hardy. “Wait, are you saying we send one of the forward teams into Hogsmeade and capture everyone?”

“That’s the simple way to put it, yes.” Came the dry reply.

There was an immediate uproar. Several minutes passed with everyone yelling to be heard over the tumult, and no one at all being heard for all the shouting, until Mcgonagall got everyone’s attention with a blast like a cannon from her wand.

“Enough.” She yelled at them. “I have seen more decorum in my first year classes. You are adults, act like it.” Many faces were downturned at the stern scolding, and more than a few were glowing with embarrassment. “Now, I agree it sounds horrid, we are after all discussing what is essentially an attack on our neighbors. However, consider two things. First, veritaserum is not harmful, even muggles and squibs can be dosed with it without worry. Second, the sleeping gas is, honestly, rather pleasant. I was struck with it just a day ago, and I can honestly say that I haven’t had a more restful nap in over a year.” She took a deep breath while looking around at everyone. “So, yes, it sounds terrible, but I cannot but agree that it is the best choice. No one will be harmed, and we can be certain of both our own safety, and more importantly, the safety of the children under our care.” Having finished she nodded briskly and sat.

It took a moment for anyone to find a response to that speech, and it was Hardy who did so first. “Thank you, Professor Mcgonagall, for that insightful scolding.” He smiled and winked at the elderly woman, reminding those who were watching him that he was almost the same age as the stern head of Gryffindor house. Those who were watching Minerva on the other hand, were slightly stunned to see the dour woman blush slightly.

“Alright,” Sirius called into the following quiet. “Any arguments against this plan?”

When no one answered after a few breaths Hardy nodded. “Good, we’ll get the teams prepping for that. In the meantime we need to figure out what we’re going to do about the Ministry itself. Any suggestions?”

Tonks raised her hand. “I have one.” She said as Hardy nodded to her. “Leave it. If their using it, they’ll have some nasty surprises waiting for anyone going in there. If they aren’t then it’ll be a waste of time anyway. So leave it be for now. Let’s see if we can draw them out somewhere and deal with them on our terms. We can go into the Ministry building once the death eaters are dealt with.”

Shacklebolt raised a hand in the classic thumbs up. “I agree, far easier to set up an ambush, than to walk into one.”

“Works for me.” Hardy assented. “Where do we set up an ambush? And how do we get them to come to it?”

“Where are they likely to go?” John Granger asked the room, then answered. “We’ve just been discussing it. Hogsmeade. After we’ve evacuated the village, we can easily fill the shops with our people and wait.”

“True, but for how long?” Flitwick asked. “We can’t be sure of when they will come.”

“We also can’t be sure they’ll come to Hogsmeade. It’s the most likely target, but not the only one.” Sirius added.

“What are the others?” Asked Jean granger.

“Diagon, and the Edinburgh shopping district.” Xeno Lovegood answered.

“Set a watch.” Remus mumbled, loudly enough that he was heard.

“A watch?” Sirius asked.

“Yeah, have someone at each location to watch. Change them out often. When the death eaters show they call for the forward team.”

“That’s a good idea, but how do we get the forward team there?” Hardy asked. “The dirigible can’t fly into London, or Edinburgh. And while it could come to Hogsmeade, it would take long enough that it wouldn’t matter. By the time they got here the fight would be over.”

“Portals.” Sirius answered. “We Have Harry make a portal for each place. Or move an existing one. The watcher can be near it, and hop through to call the team. We keep one team on alert for immediate response, while the rest of us are on standby. Ready to gear up and move once the word comes in.”

A moment passed as everyone took in the idea and processed. “Yeah.” Hardy said. “Yeah, that’ll work. Nice thinking Sirius, Remus.” He nodded to each man in turn. The former prisoner preened under the praise. “Okay, any objections, or further thoughts?” The room collectively shook their heads and he nodded. “Good then, we’ve got goals. Let’s make them happen.”

It took a day to get everything set up. After Hogsmeade was evacuated the Granger’s home portal was moved to the Three Broomsticks. In Edinburgh, the Lovegood home portal was set up on a rooftop and disillusioned. In Diagon, one of the muggleborn shop owners re-opened his store-front and the Weasley portal was moved into its backroom. Then they just had to wait.

They didn’t have to wait long. Three days after the attack on the Ministry, death eaters were marching down Diagon Alley.

The first team through the portal had a simple job. Hold the store-front while the remaining teams got their gear and came through. It was harder than they had anticipated.

Outside the shop, spells flew. The death eaters seemed to be holding back from lethal spells here, instead tossing crucios and other, lesser pain curses, along with a variety of debilitating hexes and jinxes. It seemed their goal was to scare and possibly capture as many people as possible.

Shoppers could be seen through the window, trying to apparate away, or simply running further into the alley. It was the team's job to stay inside the shop and wait, but seeing civilians being put under the cruciatus curse, or hit with bone breakers, and in one case imperiused to punch himself in the crotch repeatedly, they were wanting to get out there and stop what they were seeing.

Fortunately, the next team came through in just over two minutes, which gave team one the go ahead and to get out and help.

They didn’t bother to wait for the door. The first three simply jumped through the window and began shooting. The first rounds impacted the death eaters closest to them and a white haze surrounded the masked men for a moment before the afternoon breeze caught it. The death eaters fell as the team rushed passed them, firing into the next group they saw.

In moments their orderly line fell to chaos. Each member shooting at a target of opportunity. A masked man weilding an axe in one hand and a wand in the other, was toppled with prank potions. His robes and hair turning into a rainbow, his hands and feet swelling to five times their normal size, before he was hit with sleep gas.

Another death eater, this one levitating a young girl into an alleyway was hit with seven separate sleep rounds. One of the team rushed forward at the last moment to catch the girl.

And then a jet of green shot from near the bank. One of the team went down. The others turned and launched a barrage of pellets at the death eater who had killed one of theirs. By then the entire forward team, forty eight men and women were marching down Diagon Alley. A cloud of sleep gas hung in the air around them, sending everyone near them into slumber. The cloud had not yet reached the man standing in front of the bank. The man reached up and pulled his mask and hood free revealing a long pointed face, and streaming white blonde hair.

Lucious Malfoy opened his mouth to scream down bloody murder on the people who dared to stand against him. Three pellets struck his teeth and tongue before the first syllable could be uttered. Six more struck around his face, including one taking him in the right eye. Nine hit his arms, fourteen his chest, and even his legs took a few hits. More pellets exploded on the walls around him, and the ground at his feet. When the breeze cleared the air a man lay crumpled on the ground, hair that was now a frizzy electric pink stood out from the elongated skull. One eye was destroyed from the impact it had taken, and every bit of skin that was showing was beginning to bruise.

With that the remaining death eaters broke and began to run. A few of them tried to apparate, and were struck with sleep gas. Those that tried to run fared no better. The forward team was incensed at the loss of their comrade and chased down the remaining masked men with fervor.

Not one person managed to escape, but amazingly, only three had perished. The forward team man, Howard Shakespeare, a shopkeeper Henley Nettle who was hit with an Avada Kedavra when he got in the way of a fleeing death eater, and Clark Fishbite a retired Auror who had been in the alley to pick up his monthly supply of potions, there was a pile of stunned death eaters around him.

The following day the first foray into the Ministry building took place. It was empty, aside from the bodies of the dozen Aurors who had guarded the entrance, giving those inside the time they needed to escape, and a few workers who hadn’t made it to the exits. The death eaters had not taken up residence inside.

Then came the trials of the captured death eaters. As was now becoming habit, the questioning was recorded, and began with the shopkeepers of Diagon Alley.

Once more they asked each captive their name, if they were a death eater or supporter and finally if they were a supporter of blood purity. Those who answered yes to the first two questions, after their name, were sent to Sanctuary, those who only answered yes to the last were placed with others who had done likewise. It was finally decided that they would be given a choice. They could choose to go to Sanctuary and live in a society totally free from muggle influence, or they could stay here and completely renounce the idea of blood purity. In the end most chose to stay.

As the questioning of the captured death eaters began some people were surprised to hear answers of no to the question of whether they were a death eater until it was asked if they had been under the imperius curse, which got a yes.

Then came the biggest surprise. In each case of an individual who had been hit with prank pellets, the pranks had to be dispelled before questioning. When they got to Malfoy, about whom those who had seen Lucious Malfoy go into Sanctuary were curious about, there was a whoop of laughter at his appearance. Until the pranks were removed. As the pranks fell away they revealed a very different face than what the forward team had seen. Where in the alley the white blonde hair had flowed in the breeze, now there was only a bald head. The skin pulled tight and wrinkled, where a nose should have been two gaping slits opened like a skulls apertures. The one good eye shone a bloody slitted crimson. The dark lord Voldemort struggled feebly even in his sleep. For the sake of certainty, especially given that he had clearly been under a glamour when they encountered him in the alley. The dark lord was dosed with veritaserum and questioned. Under the effect of the truth potion, he admitted to numerous crimes, the existence of his five horcruxes, and his plan for a sixth which he had not yet completed. And that he had never intended to share power with anyone, but rather that he had planned to kill all of his followers after they had helped him to wipe out every other magical person they could find, so that he could reign supreme as the single most powerful individual of all time.

After that he was dosed with the most potent Draught of Living Death Snape could provide, and locked in a warded box until the horcruxes could be dealt with.

“Alright Grimm, what have you got for me?” Harry asked as he entered the workroom he had set up for the Bulgarian master of soul magic.

“Two weeks.” Was the reply.

“Two weeks to what?”

Looking up from a stack of notes the Bulgarian smiled. “Two weeks until the crystals are fully charged. Then I can transfer the soul fragments to whatever you want. When last we spoke you were uncertain of what you wanted them transferred into. Have you come to a decision?”

“We’ve been arguing about that for the last day. We have two options. The first, is pretty obvious. We transfer them into a bit of paper and toss it in the fire. Then laugh as we watch it burn. Then pour a bit of poison down his throat, stab him in the heart, drown him, put him in front of a firing squad.”

“In short, kill him.” Grimm broke in.

“Exactly.” Harry agreed. “The second, there’s a part of me that really likes the second option, a part that thinks he deserves it. Then there’s another part of me, a part that is sickened by the fact that I even thought of it. We make a glass coffin. Put the soul fragments into the glass, put Moldy in it and seal it so can’t be opened or apparated out of, and no magic can be done inside it. We leave him a message explaining what it is. Then we put the coffin in a steel box and weld it shut. We wrap that in stone and drop it into the deepest part of the ocean we can get to.”

Grimm raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.

“Like I said, there’s a part of me that really likes that plan. That thinks he deserves it, for all the pain he’s caused. But then there’s that other part. The part that is throwing up for even considering it.”

Karmon Grimm stepped toward the young man and rested a hand on his shoulder. “Would you like my advice?”

“You’re a part of it. You get a vote.” Was Harry’s dry reply.

“Kill him. It is kinder, gentler, more humane. And no matter how small, with the second option, there is a chance he will find a way to escape. Dead, he can do nothing.”

Slowly, Harry looked up into the eyes that held understanding, and nodded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more chapter left, the epilogue.
> 
> For those who are wondering, I left the death of Moldy open to your interpretation intentionally. He did indeed die, exactly how, you may imagine for yourself. Personally, I like the idea of a firing squad scenario, where everyone who wants gets line up and every gets a single spell of their choice. He wronged a lot of people, not just Harry. But if you can think of something else you like more, feel free to assume they did that.
> 
> At this time, I am halfway through chapter 6 of a Sirius Summer Outing. I plan to begin posting that once I get to about chapter 30 or 40, depending on how quickly I can keep churning them out. As you can tell form this story, I hate slow posting schedules, so I want enough of it done that I can maintain a fast pace. My current plan is for the story to be 58 chapters, one for each day Harry and Sirius are together for the summer, plus two, which cover his time with the Dursleys.
> 
> In the meantime, if anyone can recommend a good crack fic, I would appreciate it greatly. I can't get enough of those. I'm not too good at writing them, but I love reading them.


	74. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here is the epilogue. It is the shortest chapter in the story. But then its purpose is to show the path taken forward, not to detail it.
> 
> Thank you all for sharing this journey, and I look forward to sharing more stories, both mine and yours, in the future.

The sun shone down on the field between Hogwarts castle and Hogsmeade village. Rows of seats were lined up in front of a large stage upon which stood the graduating seventh year students.

It had been a long road, with many bumps and turns. And they had lost almost a third of their original number on the way. Between death eaters and their supporters and those blood purists who had chosen Sanctuary, the population of magical Britain had been reduced by a full third. But those who remained had worked together over the last two years to rebuild.

The changes could already be seen. The incoming class for the last two years had included goblins, werewolves, and even a few vampires. Hermione was planning to work on getting house elves to attend the school next.

The twins had finally opened their shop and it had boomed. The Alliance forward teams had taken over for the Aurors, and passed their training on to the regular magical law enforcement squads. The Ministry had been completely restructured with help from the Prime Minister and the Queen. There was still a Minister for Magic, and no plan to change that in the near future, however the Minister for Magic now worked closely with the Prime Minister to insure that all laws were covered and followed by both parts of British society. Meanwhile the Wizengamot was retooled to work like another branch of parliament, and was slowly being integrated into that structure, so that the magicals would have a say in the laws being passed. Their oversight of criminal trials was stripped and handed over to a new courts system, which was basically an exact duplicate of the muggle system, just with a slightly different set of laws. And Gringotts got it’s look into modern muggle banking, which caused a flurry of activity in the bank. Magical society was now seeing a distinct upturn in its economy as the bank began using established techniques to help everyone, especially the goblins, make money.

But for Harry, the changes were closer to home. For the first time that he could remember, there was nothing pressing him to go further, to work harder, to find a solution to the next problem. And he had found that he loved the feeling of being able to relax, to study at his own pace, and simply learn.

For two years he had continued to ask himself the question that the adult men in his life had once posed to him. What do you want to do after Hogwarts Harry? At last, he had an answer. He just needed to get this ceremony over with, so he could find the person he wanted to tell first.

It was hot on the stage, despite the cool spring breeze. The heavy black student robes were sweltering in the afternoon sun. And Headmistress Mcgonagall gave a speech that seemed to last for hours. After the siege of Diagon Alley as it had come to be called, and all the trials, Dumbledore had finally retired. He was last seen by his closest friends, whom he told he was going to spend his last days with the love of his life. He was not seen again in Britain.

At long last, the speeches were finished, the awards given out, graduation scrolls handed to each student, and they were released. It took Harry five whole minutes to find his target and drag her down to the lake for a quiet moment.

“Luna,” he smiled at the girl who had woven her way into his life and his heart with soft words, kind smiles, and the occasional mind-blowing moment of nudity. “A while ago, I was asked a question I couldn’t answer. I was asked what I wanted to do with my life, after Hogwarts. I’ve thought about it for a long time now. I could have played professional quidditch, but I didn’t have the interest. I could still go into curse breaking, I have the skill, and more experience already than most get in a decade. Except, I really don’t handle the drudge work for that well. I could do enchanting, its stimulating enough that I wouldn’t get too bored, except when a large order for copies of the same item came in. I’ve learned that I don’t do well with repeat work, I like the inventing and designing part. And thanks to Nicholas’ teaching and the income from the hotel, I’ll never really want for money.”

He paused to take a breath and smile again. “So I had to ask myself, what do I enjoy, more than anything else. Enough that I could do it, every day, for the rest of my life, and never get tired of it. And I realized, there are two things I enjoy, above everything else. One is spending time with you, the other is exploring, seeing new places, and finding new animals.” Reaching into a pocket he dropped to one knee, and held up a small box open to reveal a shining opal set on a band of silver. Luna Lovegood, would you come with me on a journey of life and love. To find whatever the world has to show us, together in everything we do?”

Luna tilted her head ever so slightly, looking at the ring. It was the one she had seen just after the war ended, when they went into muggle London to celebrate. She and Hermione and a few other girls had gone into a jewelry store to look around, and she had told Hermione that she wanted this ring to be her engagement ring. Hermione had told Harry, and now here it was. Tears prickled in her eyes as she smiled at the boy who had become the most important person in her life. Slowly, as though in a dream she reached out and grasped Harry’s free hand and whispered. “Yes.” As she nodded her head.

In a rush, Harry rose and wrapped her in his arms, holding as tight as he could. There would be many moments like this in the years to come, but right now, in this moment, he felt he could fly. And like her, he felt hot tears spill as he grinned wider than he ever had before.

When at last they let go of one another and Harry pulled the ring from the box to place it on her finger, they were startled by the sound of three sharp gasps and a handful of loud squeals. Looking over to the source of the sound they saw the twins, Neville, Hermione, and all their dates rushing forward to grab them into hugs.

33 Years Later

Harry sat on his deck enjoying a crisp fruity drink. Luna was visiting her father, they were working out the logistics of starting a second magazine dedicated to the articles she and Harry had written about their travels. And Harry was enjoying his first visit with the islands newest inhabitants.

On either side of him sat a couple. On his right was a young, dark haired man and his red haired wife. On his left an older couple, both with dark hair going silver.

It had been the work of several years to arrange this meeting, and Harry had been looking forward to it. He had worked with Nicholas, and a few other alchemists, as well as a group of muggle doctors, to find a way to reverse the effect of the killing curse. And then to work out a means of thawing a person from cryonic freezing without further damage to their body.

And now, because of that work, he got to have a drink with his parents, and his grandparents. Life was good.

Finite

**Author's Note:**

> I have been inspired by many works that I have read on AO3. I would be unable to name them all, as I don't even remember all the titles I've read. And to one degree or another, all of them have helped to create this story in my head. Obviously if you see something you recognize, it is likely something I either, accidentally copied, or something that was inspired by one or more of those excellent works. I say accidentally copied, because I have not intentionally repeated anyone else's work, which is not to say that it can't happen unintentionally. I hope you enjoyed reading this, as much as I enjoyed writing it, and that you come back for the rest of the story. I've completed through the beginning of year five, and plan to post a chapter a day as I complete the final edits, so hopefully by the time I get there, I'll have the last of it complete.


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